Born To Kill
by Mega-Erofan
Summary: Cinna Miles is an Imperial woman with dreams of becoming a warrior, but when she offers her help to a jester along the road to Windhelm, she'll soon discover the wheels of fate she had set in motion with such an innocent act of charity. Contains some romance (OCxNazir), some gore, some swearing, and comedy if you squint. Rated T for safety reasons. FINISHED...for now.
1. Northern Hospitality

-Northern Hospitality-

_/Dragonborn, of all things I could possibly be in my life, how could I end up with such a laborous title as Dragonborn?/_

These are Cinna's thoughts as she rides along the path leading her further into the northern reaches of Whiterun Hold, slowly passing the Whitewatch Tower on her night black horse, the bitter chill of the night pinching at her skin. She was never used to the cold temperatures of Skyrim, she prefered the warmer, humid conditions back in Cyrodil. But seeing as it had been nearly eight years since she left her homeland, she could never imagine returning, not if her life depended on it, she was much safer here in Skyrim. As the sun slowly peeked over the distant mountains, she could see the grassy lands before her were bathed in the golden light of the rising sun, which soon began to warm the skin of her arms, face, and legs exposed by her hide armor. She tugs the bit of fabric that was a makeshift mask up over her nose, rallying her horse to pick up pace. She had heard of a boy up in Windhelm acting strange, trying to call upon a faction known as the Dark Brotherhood. She knew quite a bit about the organization as her elder brother was part of it back in Cyrodil, joining them after they went their seperate ways at thirteen, and they never looked back, only promising to see each other again. And knowing that no one would usually call upon the Brotherhood unless it was serious, she had to go and investigate, to make sure that this child wasn't just messing with everyone in Windhelm. Children can be so imaginative sometimes,

As she picked up her pace, she then noticed something ahead on the road and ordered her horse to stop. From what she could see in the distance, it looked of be a small man with a horse and cart, pulled off to the side of the road. The man wore an odd attire, it looked to be the clothing of a jester, and he looked rather distressed. So with a sigh and a nudge, she encourages her horse to approach, stopping on the side of the road near the man's horse and climbing off before approaching the small man, who she soon discovers is an Imperial as she approaches. But she's not noticed as the man mutters and raves to himself,

"Agh! Bother and befuddled!" The man groans aloud, "Stuck here! Stuck! My mother, my poor mother unmoving, at rest, but too still!"

"Um, having problems?" Cinna hums as she finally confronts the man, who she discovers was just a bit shorter than her, even for an Imperial man, he should have been taller than her.

"Poor Cicero is stuck, can't you see?" The man gripes, pacing around Cinna in a puzzling manner, his chin gripped by anxiously tense fingers as he stared at the ground. "I was transporting my dear, sweet mother." He stops and faces Cinna with a hum, "Well, not her, her corpse! She's quite dead." He explains with a chuckle; Cinna cocks a peculiar brow as the other continued. "I'm taking mother to a new home, a new crypt. But...aggh!" He screams, kicking at the wagon wheel lying on the ground next to the cart. "Wagon wheel! Damnedest wagon wheel! It broke, don't you see?"

Cinna kneels down where the wheel had broken off the wooden axel, noting the exceptional wear on the wood. The cart had definately traveled for many miles, no wonder it broke off.

"It certainly seems you've traveled a lot," Cinna hums, climbing to her feet and turning to the jester. "No wonder it broke off on you, and I'm no expert on repairs myself, but it there anyway I can assist you?" She offers,

"Oh, yes! Yes, the kindly stranger can certainly help!" Cicero exclaims, dancing for joy and ushering a chuckle from the Imperial woman. "Go to the farm, the Loreius farm, just over there, off the road. Talk to Loreius, he has tools! He can help me, but he won't, he refuses. Please, convince Loreius to fix my wheel." He begs, "Do that, and poor Cicero will reward you, with coin! Gleamy, shiny coin!"

"Coin, huh?" Cinna hums, her hand grasping at the nearly empty coin purse tied to her hip. "I am running a bit empty since I bought Cassius, give me five minutes and I'll get the job done."

"Splendid!" Cicero cheers, "Now hurry along, please!"

With that, Cinna hikes down the road and up to the farm Cicero had spoken of, a curious thought wiggling into her mind like a maggot into a rotting apple: the Cicero man very much reminded her of her elder brother back at home. He was Imperial after all, and he did have the auburn hair and the same name, but she shook the notion from her head. Her brother was still in Cyrodil, enlisted in the Cheydinhal Sanctuary last she heard, and this Cicero sounded and acted nothing like her brother did. Her brother was a smooth-talking Imperial, able to crowd ladies around him since he was able to speak like a fluent Imperial, and he kept his hair shorter than that, saying long hair was a disadvantage to escaping an enemy. And he would never wear such a ridiculous outfit as that. It was all just a big coincidence, it had to be.

She approached the small farmhouse on the expectionally small farm, finding the man busy mending one of his farm tools. She pulls down her mask and removes her helmet, allowing long, bright auburn hair streaked with crimson to fall to her shoulders, remembering her father's advice that an open face was always more convincing than one covered.

"Excuse me?" She hums, tapping the man's arm to get his attention.

"Oh, for the love of Mara. What now?" Loreius groans, turning with a scowl, but his features lighten when he notices Cinna standing behind him. "Well, hello," He chuckles, leaning on the railing of his porch. "How can I help you?"

"Well, you seem more willing to help a woman like me than that poor little man on the road with his broken wheel." Cinna hums, "Why would that be?"

"Little man? You mean that Cicero feller?" Loreius hums; Cinna nods. "Hmph, crazy fool's already asked me about five times, seems he's not satisfied with my answer, even sends a woman up here to ask for him. Why can't he just leave us alone?"

"Well, what's the problem with that?" Cinna inquires, "I'm sure he'll pay you,"

"Pay me? You think this is about money?" Loreius sighs "Have you seen the man? He's completely out of his head. A jester? Here, in Skyrim? Ain't been a merryman in these parts for a hundred years. And he's transporting some giant box. Says it's a coffin, and he's going to bury his mother. Mother my eye. He could have anything in there: war contraband, weapons, skooma. Aint' no way I'm getting involved in any of that."

"He's a stranger who needs assisstance. Please, do the right thing." Cinna begs,

"What?" Loreius gasps, "And just who in Mara's name areyou, anyway? Hmm? Come here, telling me my business. And for what? To help a...a...a fool?"

"Well," Cinna sighs, placing a delicate hand on Loreius's arm. "You were willing to help me, and I practically scream soldier with my armor and weapons. I'm here to enter the war myself, but I've not chosen a side yet, I'm heading to Windhelm myself to investigate the Stormcloak side of it all, I've grown up with the Imperial values drilled into my skull. He's only trying to transport his mother's dear corpse to a new grave." She lightly taps her fingers on the man's arm, flashing a coy, gentle smile. "I mean, think about it, he is an Imperial, he might just be taking his mother's corpse back to his homeland to bury her, to keep her body from being desecrated during the conflicts of war. He is heading southward, right? So it's reasonable that it could be his mother's corpse." She glances up, her soft and pristine light green eyes shimmering innocently. "C'mon, you know you should help him." She hums,

"Look, I...I..." Loreius stammers, but the look on Cinna's face and the eloquency of her speech was too much to resist. "Yes, you're right, you're right." He sighs, "Feller might be nutters, might not, but fact is he needs help, and turn him away. What kind of man am I, hmm? Looks, um...Thanks, and I'm sorry for my unneighborly reaction. If you talk to Cicero, you be sure to tell him I'll be down to elp soon."

"It's alright," Cinna hums, stepping away and pulling her hair up and twisting it before sliding on her helmet, concealing her auburn waves. "And thank you, for showing me not all the people of Skyrim are so cruel to their southern neighbors as I thought."

With that, she turns and makes her way back to the broken down cart, pulling her mask up as she approaches Cicero, who was sadly muttering to himself.

"Poor mother...her new home seems so very far," He sighs to himself,

"Cicero," Cinna calls out as she approaches the jester,

"Ah, there you are, kind stranger!" Cicero chirps, "Did you talk to him?"

"Yes, I have," Cinna chuckles, "He's agreed to fix your wagon wheel,"

"You...you did? He has?" Cicero gasps, "Oh stranger! You have made Cicero so happy!" He exclaims, grabbing Cinna by and hands and spinning her around as he happily danced around the road, laughing gleefully as Cinna soon joins in the contagious chorus of joy. "So jubilant and estatic! But more, even more, my mother thanks you!"" Cicero stops and embraces the now dazed Imperial girl, then pulls away, pulling out a rather large coin purse. "Here, here. For your troubles: shiny, clinky gold! A few coins for a kind deed!"

Cinna takes the purse, surprised to find the weight far outmatched what she thought she would originally earn. "My, this is so much for just a simple task, I couldn't take this much."

"Worry not, dear stranger," Cicero chirps, "You've recieved the gold you've earned, just take it and go. And thank you, thank you again!"

"It's no trouble," Cinna chuckles, tying the coin purse to her hip next to the nearly empty one and calls to her horse, who comes galloping up to her and allows her to climb on.

"But where are you heading to, kind stranger?" Cicero asks,

"Up to Windhelm," Cinna explains, "I've been hearing rumors buzzing about that I wish to investigate before anything else,"

"Are you a spy of some sort?" Cicero inquires,

"No, just a curious Imperial with a sense of adventure," Cinna states, "But I best be going, I need to reach an inn before nightfall, Cassius and I have very far to travel."

"Hold on," Cicero scurries to his cart, pulling out what looked to be a worn cloak from the back, looking to be made of stiched together cloths colored red, black and brown, the parts meant to cover the shoulder made of black leather. "It gets very chilly up in the northern parts of Skyrim, take this, as a gift from Cicero to his kind helper."

Cinna was rather shocked by this offer, by happily accepted the gift, throwing it on to find it was a perfect fit for her, but kept the hood down. "Thank you, Cicero," Cinna sighs, extending a hand to the smaller Imperial. "I hope our paths may cross again some day,"

Cicero chuckles and eagerly takes the hand, "As does Cicero, good luck to you until then."

"Same to you," Cinna sighs as both shake, she thens pulls away and urges her horse to take off, glancing back to find Loreius walking from his farm to where Cicero was eagerly waiting, a smile tugging upon her features as she turns back to the path ahead of her, unsure herself of the gears she had just set into motion with such a simple act of charity to a strange man.


	2. Murder For Hire

-Murder For Hire-

Cinna sighs as she enters the chilly, windy city of Windhelm, which certainly lived to it's name as the winds nearly sent her flying off the bridge, but only caused her cloak to noisly flap in the wind as she crossed the brige to the gates. She now had to locate this house, which wasn't too hard upon asking the first guard she ran into, take a right, a left and it's on the left side of a large overhang made of two houses. As she approached the house though, she noticed two people standing nearby, a Dunmer and a Nord child. She curiously approaches, finding they were in the middle of a conversation.

"All right, I won't deny it, child." The Dunmer sighs, "What you heard is true, but Aventus Aretino walks a dark path, his actions can lead only to ruin." The Dunmer only then noticed Cinna prescence nearby, "Now, enough, we will speak no more of this. I am the only friend you need,"

The two go their seperate ways, giving Cinna enough cover to fumble with her lockpicks, breaking two in the process before finally being able to break into the house. As she creeps into the house, she hears someone chanting upstairs, she recognized the words as those of the Black Sacrament and slowly climbs up the stairs and through the bare living quarters, soon finding a young boy in a room, preforming the Black Sacrament with all the nessecary items before him. He seemed to have been at it for a while as he tirelesly beat his fist on the floor, chanting the Black Sacrament again before letting out a weariy sigh.

"So...tired,"

Cinna slowly stands and shuffles behind the young boy, tapping him on the shoulder. She surprised when the boy suddenly turns, his face lighting up when he sees her.

"Finally!" The boy explains, jumping to his feet. "My prayers have been answered!"

"Um, are you alright, Aventus?" Cinna hums,

"It worked! I knew you'd come, I just knew it!" The child rambled on, "I did the Black Sacrament, over and over, with the body, and the...the things, and then you came! And assassin from the Dark Brotherhood!"

That's when Cinna's mind grinded to a halt, leaving her unable to say anything at that moment. This child was obviously mistaken, how could he confuse her as a Dark Brotherhood assassin? In fact, why was a boy at such a young age even asking for one?

"I-I'm sorry, boy, but I'm not who you think I am." Cinna nervously reassures him,

"Of course you are!" Aventus states happily, "I prayed, and you came, and now you'll accept my contract!"

"Contract?" Cinna hums in confusion,

"My mother, she...she died, I...I'm all alone now." Aventus sadly explains, staring at the floor as he shuffled his feet. "So they sent me to that terrible orphanage in Riften: Honorhall. The headmistress is an evil, cruel woman; they call her Grelod the Kind, but she's not kind, she's terrible, to all of us. So I ran away, and came home, and preformed the Black Sacrament. Now you're here, and you can kill Grelod the Kind!"

"I-" Cinna was at a loss for words, she understood the boy's want for an assassin, but she wasn't sure if she could go through with it. Could she dare lift her blade against something other than a creature or a bandit? Could she kill another civilized being? "Alright," Cinna sighs, kneeling down and placing a fist over her heart. "I shall carry out your contract, Aventus, and ensure Grelod the Kind will be known as Grelod the Dead."

"Thank you, and please hurry." Aventus sighs, "To be honest, I'm kind of lonely here. As much as I hated getting sent to Honorhall, I really miss my friends there."

Cinna nods and stands, patting Aventus on the shoulder before turning and exitting the house, leaning against the door and murmuring a single statement to herself:

"What the hell did I just get myself into?"

As night fell upon Windhelm, Cinna could waste no time waiting til morning, as her heart urged her to immediately head for Riften and carry out this contract. After replacing her iron mace with steel using a bit of the money she had earned from Cicero, she hurries to Cassius waiting in the stables and takes off for Riften, soon arriving just as the sun's warmth peeked beams onto the back of her cloak. She leaves her horse at the Riften stables and hurries along to the gates, entering to find Riften was not as she originally thought, looking a bit run-down but seemed to function rather well for being a fishing city of high crime rates. She makes her way to the inn and rents a room, laying down in her bed to get some well deserved rest after traveling the whole night.

_i/Besides,/i_ Cinna thought of she began to slip into a deep sleep, i_/It's better to kill in the night,/i_

As night began to fall upon Riften, Cinna left the inn and made her way to Honorhall Orphanage, slipping in and finding no one was in the foyer or the kitchen. But as she creeps into the kitchen, she hears the voice of an old woman from what she supposed was the room where the orphans slept.

"Those who shirk their duties will get an extra beating. Do I make myself clear?"

"Yes, Grelod," The children sadly sigh,

"And one more thing!" Grelod hums, "I will hear no more talk of adoptions! None of your riff-raff is getting adopted, ever! Nobody needs you, nobody wants you. That, my darlings, is why you're here, why you will always be here, until the day you come of age and get thrown into that wide, horrible world." Cinna pulls her cloak's hood up and growls in her throat as Grelod continued, crossing her arms with a proud, aged smirk. "Now, what do you all say?"

"We love you, Grelod. Thank you for your kindness." The children fearfully state,

"That's better, now scurry off, my little guttersnipes." Grelod orders,

"I wouldn't call you Grelod the Kind, I wouldn't even call you a human after what I just heard." Cinna calls out, leaning against the doorway across the room, catching everyone's attention.

"What do you want?" Grelod squawks, "You have no business being here,"

"A human being would never talk to children like that, a human being would never beat children just because they have the authority to, a human being wouldn't treat anyone as you have treated these children." Cinna continues, walking to the center of the room as she spoke. "Children are a precious thing that should be protected and raised with care and knowledge, not treated like slaves or animals. You, dear Grelod, are not kind at all, you're a bitter old woman who treats children horribly because she wasn't able to carry her own. You don't deserve to care for children, nor do you deserve to breath the same air as I do."

"Who do you think you are?" Grelod snaps, storming up to the shorter woman, reflecting the same fury that was in the Imperial's own light green eyes, both gazes bright like sparked fire pits in an inn. "Coming in here and telling me what I can and cannot do! I will not be intimidated in my own orphanage! Get out! Get out this instant!"

"Make me," Cinna dares,

Grelod storms back into her room with a huff, Cinna huffs and turns to the children, winking at them before entering the room and shutting the doors behind her carefully. She quietly sneaks over to where Grelod now sat, pulling out a steel dagger she had looted from the body of a bandit along the way and quickly grabs Grelod from behind, covering her mouth with one hand while holding the dagger to her throat with the other.

"Oh, and by the way, Grelod," Cinna whispers in the old woman's ear coyly as she slowly drags the blade across her throat, "Aventus Aretino says ihello/i,"

After looting the body of gold and taking the large coin purses on the table, adding just over a thousand gold to her personal bank, she exits the room, sighing in relief then calmly exitting the establishment as the children filtered into the room to see what had just happened.

The trip back up to Windhelm gave Cinna enough time to think over what had just occured: she had killed an old woman, with her own hands, which were now stained by the woman's blood. She deserved it, she was a cruel woman who treated the children trusted to her terribly, she deserved to die. But the sensation after the kill made her feel strange, causing an uncomfortable warmth to consume her entire being, almost like a fireball had been shot right into her soul, enticing her senses as she watched the blood pour over her blade and peek through her fingers as the old hag coughed with what little life was left in her into her hand. It couldn't match the warmth any mead could give her as she thundered into the snowy domain of Windhelm on Cassius, like death swiftly carrying a message to the devil himself.

She soon reaches the snowy city and casually enters the gate, recalling her way to the house from before and finding the door still unlocked. She enters and climbs up the steps, finding Aventus waiting for her in the living quarters of the home.

"Well? Grelod the Kind, is she...you know?" Aventus hesitantly asks,

"Yes," Cinna sighs, "Grelod the Kind is now Grelod the iVery/i Dead Bitch,"

"Aha! I knew you could do it! I just knew it! I knew the Dark Brotherhood would save me!" Aventus cheers, "Here, just like I promised," Aventus hands Cinna what appeared to be a plate, polished and finely made with accents of gold along the edge. "This should fetch you a nice price, and thank you, thank you again."

"It's no trouble, Aventus," Cinna chuckles, putting away the plate and kneeling down. "You're quite the determined child to go through with all this, you might have a chance at a family some day, despite what Grelod may have told you." She ruffles Aventus's hair and stands then quickly exits the house and returns to her horse outside of Windhelm, "C'mon boy, we'll head to Nightgate for tonight, then head off to Winterhold tomorrow."


	3. Killing Bad

-Killing Bad-

Cinna slowly wakes as sunlight peeks in through a hole in the ceiling, causing her to turn over and find her nose being tickled by hay. She snorts and cracks an eye open, finding herself on the floor, then sighs and turns over, thinking she might have just fallen out of bed. But then she remembered something: Nightgate didn't have dark, wooden floors. She flips onto her knees and shakes her head as a massive hangover slowly set it.

"Dammit," She grumbles under her breath, pushing herself to her feet as she held her head. "I knew I shouldn't have had those twenty-seven ales before I slept. I swear, if this is anything like what happened in Hammerfell..." Her words trail off as she looks up, finding a strange female dressed in red and black leather armor sitting on a dusty bookshelf before her. Even through her mead-filled eyeballs, she could tell the other was a girl by her shape.

"Sleep well?" The female hums,

"What?" Cinna groans, slightly slurring her words as mead still lingered on her brain as she clumsily stumbled to her feet. "W-where am I? Who are you?"

"Does it matter?" The female asks, "You're warm, dry...and still very much alive. That's more than can be said for old Grelod, hmm?"

"You know about that bitch?" Cinna chuckles, stumbling slightly.

"Half of Skyrim knows, dear girl, you should've expected that." The woman explains, "Old hag gets butchered in her own orphanage? Things like that tend to get around,"

"Well, the bitch had it coming!" Cinna barks, still slurring as she trips and falls back to the floor in bellowing laughter. "After what she put those kids through, she deserved it!"

"Well, you're obviously still drunk. Here," The woman sighs, tossing a red potion vial to Cinna, who clumsily catches it. "You might wanna sober up before we continue,"

Cinna shrugs and swigs the potion down, the golden swirl of a restorative potion warming her body, soon pulling her from her half-drunked stupor, and curing her hangover to boot.

"There, better?" The woman hums; Cinna nervously nods as she climbs to her feet then adjusts her makeshift mask. "Good, oh, and don't misunderstand, I'm not criticizing. It was a good kill, old crone had it coming, and you saved a group of urchins to boot."

"Why, thank you," Cinna chuckles, scratching her head and realizing her helmet was still on, and just how drunk she was to sleep in her armor. "I've never killed anyone before, so it's good to hear I did such a good job on something I've never done before."

"Ah, but there is a slight...problem," The woman sighs,

"A problem?" Cinna hums, "What problem? Aventus wanted the hag dead, the hag is dead, kids free to be adopted, the kids are happy, the end. Right?"

"Not quite," The woman adds, "You see, that Aretino boy was looking for the Dark Brotherhood, for me and my associates."

"You?" Cinna gasps, just then realizing the weight of the situation. "Oooooooh gods,"

"Grelod the Kind was, by all rights, a Dark Brotherhood contract." The woman explains, "A kill...that you stole, a kill you must repay."

"R-repay?" Cinna stutters, "Y-you want me to murder someone else? Who?"

"Well now, funny you should ask." The woman sighs,

"Doesn't seem very funny to me," Cinna nervously comments,

"If you turn around, you'll notice my guests." The woman states, "I've collected them from...well, that's not really important. The here and now, that's what matters."

"Just get to your point!" Cinna snaps, becoming slowly agiated by her kidnapper's beating around the bush, as if it were a game to her.

"Eager, are we?" The woman hums, "You see, there's a contract on one of them, and that person can't leave this room alive. But...which one? Go on, see if you can figure it out."

"Wait, you want me to play a guessing game with three lives?" Cinna gasps, "Are you mad?!"

"Oh, no, I'm very sane actually," The woman explains, "Now go on, make your choice, make your kill. I just want to observe...and admire."

Cinna was at a loss for words, unable to comprehend all that was going on, how doing what she thought was the right thing had landed her in this entire mess.

"Am I to take your silence as acceptance?" The woman inquires, "Then you know where we stand: make your kill, and we're square. Repayment of your debt is but a discreet knife thrust away." Cinna glares up at the woman, "Go along now, don't keep us all waiting."

Cinna sighs and slowly turns, finding three individuals bound and wearing excecution hoods over their heads on the other side of the room. Forcing down a nervous lump in her throat, she approaches one of the three captives, who appeared to be a warrior like herself.

"Is this about that raid last week?" The man asks, "I told Holgrim there was no honor in killing sleeping men, but he wouldn't listen! It wasn't my fault, I swear!"

"W-who are you?" Cinna asks, kneeling before the man.

"My name is Fultheim. I'm a soldier...Well, mercenary, really. You know, a...a sellsword. I've lived in Skyrim all my life." The man explains fearfully, "That's all! I'm nobody, really, so can't you just let me go?"

"Would-" Cinna was hesitant with the question, "Would someone pay...to have you killed?"

"What?" Fultheim gasps, "Oh gods, I don't want to die,"

"Shh...don't be afraid." Cinna reassures him, "You can tell me, it's alright."

"Well, I suppose there is a chance," Fultheim sighs, "I've been selling my arm for years now, I've killed plenty of people, somebody would probably want me dead. But you aren't going to kill me, are you?"

Cinna glances over her shoulder at Astrid then turns back to the man and whispers, "Don't make a sound, but I won't harm you. You've done what you have to survive, I can't crucify you for that. I was a sellsword myself when I was younger, I understand. You're safe,"

She stands and walks to the next person, who dressed like a woman, and sounded like a woman scorned, and was none too pleased about the circumstances.

"Cowards! Stealing a woman from her home! For shame!" She spat,

"Who are you?" Cinna asks, kneeling before the woman.

"None of your damned business who I am! If you're going to kill me, just do it already! As Mara is my witness, if I didn't have this hood on right now I would spit right in your face..."

Cinna clenched her fist as her temper began to rise, but she forced herself to calm down, she knew the woman was only distressed, hiding her fear with anger. She would probably do the same in her shoes, and pushed her anger aside to focus on her task.

"Would someone pay to have you killed?" Cinna inquires,

"Excuse me?" The woman scoffs, "What kind of question is that?"

"It's alright," Cinna sighs, "Just tell me what I need to know,"

"I'm a woman living in Skyrim with six children and no husband," The woman explains, "I don't have the time or patience to be 'nice'. Do some people look down on me? Have I made some enemies? You're damn right!"

Cinna sighs and moves on to the final captive, thinking the woman had done nothing but care for her family, making an honest woman of herself. Despite her short temper, she could never mean any harm to anyone really with other than scornful words. The final captive looked to be a Khajiit and sounded to be male as she approached and kneeled before him,

"Come now, whatever the problem, we can talk about it like civilized folks. Hmm?" The Khajiit offers, getting a chuckle out of Cinna. "Easily humored, are you?"

"Well, my smooth talking friend, who might you be?" Cinna asks,

"Ahhh...Vasha, at your service. "Obtainer of goods, taker of lives, and defiler of daughters." The Khajiit introduces, causing Cinna cock a surprised brow. "Have you not heard of me? Perhaps I will have my people carve my name in your corpse, as a reminder."

"Well," Cinna hums, laying a hand on his shoulder. "This probably isn't worth asking after that little banter of yours, but would someone pay to have you killed by any chance?"

"Me? Ha! Are you serious?" Vasha chuckles,

"Come on, you can tell me." Cinna teases, beginning to gently rub the Khajit's shoulder. "We're all friends here, with our own faults aside, that is."

Vasha chuckles at the statement before he speaks, "The real question is, 'Would someone pay to have me killed...again?' A day goes by without someone trying to gut me in the street, I get disappointed. Living on your toes, wondering when the next blade will come, is exciting, invigorating, certainly something I've learned not to live without."

Cinna steps back and looks over the three one last night, nodding when she was sure of her choice and approaches Vasha as she draws her mace. She viciously strikes Vasha down, chuckling as he screams in agony, his skull being crushed in by the sheer force of her swing, then the thud of his lifeless body hitting the ground just moments later. She turns and approaches the woman, who had a gleam in her eye like that of a child recieving a large gift.

"The conniving Khajiit," The woman hums, "Cat like that was sure to have enemies, it's no wonder you chose him so easily, and killed him so viciously."

"Alright, enough with your game, woman. Who was it?" Cinna scoffs, "Who had the contract? Did I kill a guilty cat or an innocent feline with nothing more than a bad reputation?"

"Oh, no, no, no, don't you understand?" The woman chuckles, "Guilt, innocence, right, wrong...all irrelevant. What matters is I ordered you to kill someone, and you obeyed."

"So...I'm free to go now?" Cinna nervously asks, "It's done?"

"Of course, and you've repaid your debt, in full." The woman states, "Here's the key to the shack," She tosses Cinna a rusty key, which she's barely able to catch as she nearly fumbles it while putting away her now blood splattered mace. "But why stop here? I say we take our relationship to the next level, my dear Imperial."

Cinna hums curiously as she looks up at the woman, "What are you talking about?"

"I would like to officially extend to you an invitation to join my Family." The woman states, hopping down from the bookshelf. "The Dark Brotherhood," Cinna tries to speak, but is cut off by the woman. "In the southwest reaches of Skyrim, in the Pine Forest down near Falkreath, you'll find the entrance to our Sanctuary. It's just beneath the road, hidden from view. When questioned by the Black Door, answer with the correct passphrase: 'Silence, my brother.' Then you're in, and your new life begins." The woman walks to pass Cinna, but stops and places a hand on the Imperial's shoulder, firmly patting it as she spoke. "I'll see you at home," She then continues past Cinna, and Cinna quickly exits the shack, shutting the door behind her and leaning back against the door.

As she stood there, a thought from the previous day came to her mind once again:

"What the hell did I just get myself into?"


	4. Home Sweet, Cavern?

-Home, Sweet...Cavern?-

Cinna sighs deeply, her fatigue carrying in the breath as she urged Cassius off the road as they pull away from Falkreath, but continued to follow along side it as far as she was allowed.

"Beneath the road, hidden from view," Cinna scoffed as she continued beside the road, "Doesn't make it any easier for new members to find the place, does it, Cassius?" The horse snorts in response, carefully weaving around trees as they ventured deeper and deeper into the thicket. "I hope the locals weren't lying to me when they said this was Pine Forest," Cinna sighs, feeling more antsy the further south the went. "The last thing I want is to end up crossing the border into Cyrodil or something,"

As she continues searching, she wondered how a warrior like herself could ever pass as a decent assassin. She wasn't exactly the sneakiest girl around, despite being so small and lithe, she was more tempered for fighting in war than slinking through the shadows. She wasn't even sure how she pulled off killing Grelod like she did before, how she knew to close the door behind her, to sneak up on the woman, even to use the dagger she had looted on impulse to slit the hag's throat. How had she known all that after training with a mace for nearly seven years? Only Akatosh would truly know at this point,

She soon spots a strange black pool along her way, and stops beside it to get her bearings, climbing off Cassius and scanning the wilderness around them to locate any possible landmarks. As she looks around, she hears the faint whisper of someone calling out to her.

_"Cinna...return home, Cinna...join your true family,"_

Cinna curiously follows the whispers, which lead her to a black door hidden beneath the road, just as the woman had told her.

"Found you," Cinna chuckles, boldly approaching the door.

_"What is the music of life?"_

The harsh whisper causes Cinna to leap several feet back from the door, surprised that the door could even speak, even more that it spoke in such a ghostly manner. She slowly approaches the door again, choking back an anxious lump in her throat before she spoke.

"S-Silence, my brother," She states,

_"Welcome home,"_ The door hisses, _"Cinna,"_

The door cracks open, allowing Cinna to push the door open just enough to allow her to slip in then quickly shut the door behind her. The dark stairway before her sends chills down her spine, but she shakes away the fear and descends the stairs. She enters the room below and finds the female that was so familiar to her, noticing her mask was off, revealing she was a blonde Nord woman. She approaches her, pulling down the cloth that made up her own personal mask, and a smile cracks on the woman's face.

"Ah, at last! I hope you found the place all right." The woman hums,

"I had a bit of trouble, but I followed your directions and found it much more easily than I would have alone." Cinna admits, "So what happens now?"

"Well, what happens now is you start your new life in the Dark Brotherhood. You're part of the family after all," The woman explains, "This, as you can see, is our Sanctuary. You won't find a safer place in all of Skyrim, so get comfortable. The name is Astird, by the way."

"Well, I'm honored to be part of your family, Astrid." Cinna chuckles,

"_Our_ family, my dearest, _our_ family." Astrid corrects the Imperial, "Together, united as one, the Dark Brotherhood can accomplish anything, but you must be anxious to get to work."

"Well, maybe just a bit," Cinna hums,

"I'm arranging a job, but need a bit more time." Astird eleborates, "For now, go see Nazir, he's got several smaller contracts."

"Alright, I think I can work that out," Cinna chirps,

"Soon the Night Mother will arrive, and things around here are sure to get even more interesting." Astird mumbles as Cinna starts to move toward the stairs behind her, "Ah, but one last thing," She holds out a set of folded armor in her hand, blocking Cinna from continuing. "A welcome home present: the armor of the Dark Brotherhood. May it serve you well in all your...endeavors."

"Um, thanks," Cinna sighs, taking the armor from her. "Any place I can change in privacy?"

"You can use my room if you wish," Astrid offers, "The rest of the family is waiting downstairs to meet you, they're always eager to introduce new brothers and sisters."

Cinna quickly goes to change, finding it rather tough to retire her studded armor, but knowing it was for the good of herself and her new family. She then goes to join the rest of her family, walking in as they circled around a young girl, who seemed to be telling a story to the other members. An Argonian bellows in laughter before speaking,

"Again! Again! Do the part where he tries to buy you some candy!" He guffaws,

"Okay, okay. Wait, here we go." The young girl sighs, _"'Ooh, you are such a pretty little girl. Would the sweetie like a sweetie? Oh yes, how about some chocolate?' _Oh yes, please, kind sir. My mama and papa left me all alone, and I'm so very hungry. I know a shortcut to the candy shop. Through this alley_. 'Oh ya, very good. My it is dark down here. Oh, but you are so beautiful. Such a lovely smile. Your teeth...your teeth! No! Aggghh!'_"

"Oh Babette," A Dunmer nearby sighs, "But you are so wicked,"

"What about you, Festus?" The Redguard inquires, the question aimed toward an eldery Breton. "How did that last contract turn out?"

"Oh, yes, please, old man." The blonde Nord beside the Dunmer sarcastically adds, "Regale us with your tales of wizardy,"

"Ah, the young and stupid, always mocking the experienced and brilliant." Festus sighs, "My contract went very well, I'll have you know. Tried a new spell, little something I've been working on in my spare time. Came _this_ close to turning that priest inside out. Damned messy."

"And what of your latest, Arnbjorn?" The Dunmer questions the Nord beside her, "Something about a Khajiit? Merchant was it?"

"Oh, a big doggy chasing a little kitty!" Babette playfully coos, "How adorable!"

Everyone bursts out in laughter, even Cinna quietly chuckles to herself at the joke.

"I am not adorable," Arnbjorn growls, "It was not funny, and he wasn't a merchant. He was a Khajiit monk, a master of the Whispering Fang style, but now he's dead, and I have a new loincloth."

Everyone bursts out in laughter again, Cinna trying to prevent her own from becoming too audible for everyone else to hear, even as everyone broke away. She walks away, not paying attention as she bumps into the Redguard, catching herself and the other by surprise.

"Sorry," Cinna quickly murmurs,

"It's alright," Nazir chuckles, then suddenly realizes the new face when the loose mask had fallen off the Imperial female's face. "So you're the newest member of our dwindling, dysfunctional little Family. I've heard quite a bit about you,"

"Really?" Cinna hums, "You will hear even more, I assure you."

"Ooh, cocky," The Redguard sarcastically gasps, "I give you three days before you screw up and someone runs a knife across your throat," Cinna shoots the Redguard a you-doubting-me-bitch already glare, to which he chuckles in response. "But who knows? I've been proven wrong before, and no doubt will be again."

"I'm guessing you're Nazir?" Cinna inquires,

"You're correct, child," The other confirms,

"Good," Cinna chirps, "Astrid said you'd have some work for me, something to keep me busy until she finishes her first contract for me."

"Did she, now?" Nazir hums, "Well, as it turns out, there are a few lingering contracts we haven't had the chance to complete just yet. And more, dribbling in from time to time."

"I'm surprised actually," Cinna chuckles, "They way you guys sounded earlier, seems you hardly have trouble completing the ones you get already."

"We're well-practiced, it comes with time and skill." Nazir states, walking away and motioning Cinna to follow, which she readily does. "I'll assign you contracts as they become available, to be completed at your leisure."

"Sounds simple enough," Cinna comments, "Very laid back for an assassin organization,"

"It is," Nazir agrees, "These aren't particularly glamorous assassinations though, I'll be honest. Don't pay much, either, but they'll keep you busy, just do them as you're able. There's no real time limit-the targets aren't going anywhere."

"Alright," Cinna hums, "Sounds easier than I thought it would be,"

"You can turn each one in as it's completed, or wait and turn in the whole group when all the targets have been eliminated. Whichever works for you." Nazir explains,

"Then expect bulk contract deliveries from me," Cinna shamefully confesses, "I tend to lose track of time and place when I'm in my adventuring zone, so you might not hear from me for days at a time, especially if my targets end up near Dwemer ruins or crypts."

"Fine by me, just make sure you get them in so you can get your pay," Nazir reminds her, taking a seat at the table in what appeared to be the kitchen area of the Sanctuary. "But are you ready to preform a contract set now, or do you wish to look around for a bit?"

"I can always explore and socialize the next time I'm here," Cinna states, "I'm strangely eager to begin my new line of work,"

"Alright, let's get started," Nazir chuckles, pulling out three different notes and laying them on the table before Cinna. "I've got three available right now," Cinna picks up the notes as Nazir continues, "Your targets are the beggar Narfi, an ex-miller named Ennodius Papius, and Beitild, a mine boss. When you've completed all those, we'll see if I might have some more."

"Alrighty then," Cinna chirps, tucking the notes away in her satchel. "I shall retun when I'm done then, and if recall to return as well. See ya around, Nazir." Cinna takes off towards what she thought would be the exit to the Sanctuary,

"Hold on," Cinna stops and turns to the Redguard who had called her, "I never did catch your name, I don't think even Astrid knows it yet."

"Cinna," She hums,

"Nice name," Nazir hums; Cinna nods and tries to take off again. "Also, the exit is the other way, just wanted to let you know."

Cinna groans and turns on her heels, quickly taking off, eager to begin her first fistful of contracts, leaving Nazir to chuckle to himself.

"My, that girl is certainly the Nightshade among the Deathbell," Nazir mumurs to himself, taking a sip from the wine bottle in his hand. "But is she more harmful or helpful to us?"

-Two Weeks Later-

Cinna groans as she pulls off her hood, the dark of the cool night giving her a cooler cover than her hood and mask currently provided. After traveling across Skyrim and back on these three contracts, not to mention cave spelunking, dragon slaying, and the occasional run-in with bandits or giants, she was exhausted to the point where resting in a roadside inn would possibly hinder her travels even further. She leaves Cassius near the murky pond nearby and enters the Sanctuary, quickly descending the stairs to turn in her first contracts, and is surprised by who she finds speaking to Astrid in the main chamber of the Sanctuary.

"But the Night Mother is mother to all! It is her voice we follow! Her will! Would you dare risk disobediance? And surely...punishment?"

"Keep talking, little man," Arnbjorn grumbles, "And we'll see who gets 'punished',"

"Oh, be quiet , you great, lumbering lapdog. The man's had a long journey, you can at least be civil." Festus sighs; Cinna covers her mouth to surpress her laughter as the mage continued. "Mister Cicero, I for one am delighted you and the Night Mother have arrived. Your prescence here signals a welcome return to tradition,"

"Oh, what a kind and wise wizard you are." Cicero chirps, "Sure to earn our Lady's favor,"

_/Aw, he's so adorable when he's happy,/_

"You and the Night Mother are, of course, welcome here, Cicero." Astird states, "And you will be afforded the respect deserving of your position as Keeper."

_/Keeper? Keeper of what?/_

"Understood...husband?" Astrid hums, Arnbjorn simply grunts.

_/Husband?!/_

"Oh, yes yes yes!" Cicero cheers as he dances, almost making it impossible for Cinna to contain herself as she hid in the shadows. "Thank you, thank you, thank you!"

"But make no mistake," Astird warns, "I am the leader of this Sanctuary, my word is law. Are we clear on that point?"

"Oh, yes, mistress, prefectly!" Cicero chimes, "You're the boss,"

As the group breaks up, Astrid notices Cinna and quickly pulls her to the side. "Ah, there you are." She hums, "Good, I was done speaking with that muttering fool anyway. We've got some business to discuss."

"Muttering fool?" Cinna gasps, "Astrid, don't be so hard on Cicero, I think he's adorable, and not in _that_ way. I didn't even know he was part of you guys,"

"What do you mean?" Astrid gasps,

"I ran into Cicero early on in my journey, while I was heading to Windhelm to investigate the Aventus jibber-jabber." Cinna explains, "I helped him get his wheel fixed up, very lucky I came by or he probably never would've been able to make it here. He's the one who gave me this cloak too," She turns, displaying the cloak she was currently wearing, which surprises Astrid. "He's a sweet guy, this thing protected me from the most frigid of Windhelm's gusts. So don't be so harsh on him, he's a good buddy of mine."

"I'll try to resist," Astrid grumbles, "But back to business,"

"Oh!" Cinna chirps, "Do you have a contract for me finally?"

"I do indeed," Astrid hums, "You must go to the city of Markarth, and speak with the apothecary's assistant. You'll probably find her in The Hag's Cure, when the shop is open. The girl's been running her mouth, wants an ex-lover killed. She's apparently preformed the Black Sacrament." She explains, "Her name is Muiri; I need you to talk to her, set up the contract, and carry it out. Understand?"

"I do," Cinna states, "Anything else you wanna add?"

"Just do whatever the contact wishes." Astird advises, "Be professional, represent us well, and get the job done. And since it's your first contract, I'll let you keep whatever Muiri pays...She'll be generous, I'm sure. They always are,"

Cinna sighs as Astird walks away, a whole new weight now resting on her shoulders. Her first contract being just before her, her chance to make an impression in this family, but first-

"Cicero," Cinna calls out to the jester, catching his attention as she approaches. "Remember me, my friend?" She asks, spinning around as she fanned out the cloak.

"Oh, yes, of course!" Cicero eagerly states, "Cicero remembers the kind stranger from Whiterun Hold, indeed he does, but Cicero had no idea his friend was part of the Family,"

"I actually only recently joined the Family," Cinna admits, "A mix up in a Brotherhood contract from early on earned me an invitation into the family from Astrid. I was very much surprised, considering I have no prior experience, yet I've been able to flawlessly kill off my targets so far, including the one I accidently stole. Not sure how though,"

"Perhaps killing is in your blood," Cicero suggests, "Some of us _become_ killers, while others are _born _killers, you're one of very few born with the instinct to kill. It shall help you very much during your time here, dear Sister," He hums with a bow, "Your targets will not know what hit them, that is ensured."

"I hope so," Cinna nervously chuckles, just then realizing she had still not turned in her contracts. "That reminds me, I still have my contracts to turn in. We'll speak more later,"

"Of course," Cicero gleefully sighs with a bow, "Cicero is more than eager to get to know his kind, new Sister in a new light. I shall anticipate your return,"

"Alright," Cinna chirps, then scurries off to search for Nazir. "See you later then, Cicero!"

"My, what a fine woman she is," Cicero sighs contently to himself, "But there is something that bothers Cicero so much about that woman...something so obvious yet not even I can point it out. Does Cicero know that woman from somewhere before we met on the road?"


	5. The First Contract

-The First Contract-

The journey to Markarth was very brutal on Cinna and Cassius, considering the eastern part of Skyrim was very mountainous, forcing the Imperial and her stallion to stick to the roads that snaked around the large, rocky masses, eventually finding their way to Markarth's gates. After a small bit of ruckus in the small market place with mentioning of Forsworn, Cinna makes her way through the confusing maze of stone and stairways, eventually stumbling to the door of Hag's Cure. She pushes her way through the door and into the spacious and dusty alchemy shop, being greeted by the elder shopkeeper and acknowledging her with a wave before making her way to the young woman sweeping the floor nearby.

"Muiri," Cinna murmurs, catching the woman's attention.

"Why are you looking at me like that?" Muiri hums, taking notice of Cinna's chilling gaze.

"The Dark Brotherhood has come, Muiri," Cinna states in a hushed tone,

"The Dark Brotherh-" She quiets down as Cinna lifts a finger to her own lips, "Oh, Oh! I...my goodness, you're really here! The Black Sacrament. It actually worked?" She gasps, seeming quite surprised given the situation.

"Obviously," Cinna sighs, "Now tell me what you need."

"What I need?" Muiri hums, "What I need is for Alain Dufont to die! I want him hunted down and murdered like the dog he is."

"Get to the details, girl." Cinna scoffs, "Why do you want this 'dog' dead?"

Muiri glances around then motions for Cinna to follow her into the storage room into the back, telling the shopkeeper she was helping locate a specific ingredient.

"I didn't know it when we were...with each other, but Alain is actually the leader of a band of cutthroats. Bandits." Muiri explains, "They're holed up in some old dwarven ruin, Raldbthar, near Windhelm. They use it as their base, it's where they stage their raids. I want you to go to that ruin, find Alain Dufont, and kill him. I don't care about his friends, do whatever you want with them, but Alain has to die!"

"It shall be done," Cinna states,

"Excellent," Muiri sighs, "Once Alain is dead, I'll pay you, in gold that I've been saving up. I hope that'll do, but, well...there is one more thing, it you're interested?"

"I'm listening," Cinna hums,

"If you can...I want you to kill someone else as well," Muiri explains, "You don't have to, not as part of our deal, but if you do, I'll pay you even more."

"Who?"

"Nilsine Shatter-Shield, in Windhelm," Muiri sighs, "If Nilsine dies too, I'll make is worth your while."

With a nod, Cinna exits the shop, two targets in mind now as she quickly hurries back to Cassius and gallops off towards Windhelm. Stalking the streets as it began to grow dark, Cinna easily erases the young Nord woman from the street with a single, poisoned blade to her throat. She never cared much for the Shatter-Shield family to begin with, she had rough patches with a Shatter-Shield in Windhelm earlier, nearly ending in a beat down on the snotty Nord's end, but Cinna held herself back, having more interest in buying her new mace then the cynical remarks of the Nord as she walked away. She grinned as the body slumped against her, carelessly letting the body drop before looting the pockets of the house key, some salt for more potions, and a silver garnet ring for her building "kill collection", which would consist of several items she loots off the corpses of her fresh kills, not wishing to sell them, just something as a reminder when she was too old to wield a blade someday.

She quickly makes her way back to her horse and gallops off to the dwarven ruin she knew well from her first trip up here to Windhelm. Upon arriving to the ruin, she quickly takes care of the first three guards with her newly acquired orcish bow, which she nicknamed Lightning because of how fast it shot and for the shock enchantment it had on it when she first found it in a barrow she explored in Ivarstead, after meeting with the Greybeards that fateful day so many weeks ago: the day she found out she was Dragonborn, the one who would save the world of Nirn from the fearsome dragon, Alduin. But she didn't want that life, not right now.

Despite her objections though, after learning to use her natural born gift, the Greybeards insisted she ponder over it while she went on her way to Windhelm, hoping she would reconsider, but her mind was set the day she hear of the rising war in Skyrim: she would fight for the Stormcloaks and earn Skyrim its freedom from her homeland's greedy grip. She was never very proud to be born an Imperial, with the Imperial Army scowering all over Tamriel, claiming each country in the name of their own, when they were already the largest country in Tamriel. She never wanted to be known by her looks, but by her personality, her dreams, her beliefs, but all anybody saw was her race, and they thought they knew who she was: a snotty, regal-born fiend that only wished to conquer other lands, destroy religions, and tear regions apart bit by bit, but she was far from any of those things. She personally hated royalty of any kind, only ever wanting to deal with them if absolutely necessary for a quest or to steal their belongings to sell to her fence friend, she respected all religions, and even secretly followed Talos himself after learning of him back in Hammerfell, and she only came to Skyrim to prevent it from falling apart at the seams, to bring the holds together and unite them peacefully, as it should have been. Well, that was her plan anyway, until she got a hoof to the head and ended up being shipped to her unneeded execution along with what would soon become her close friends, only to be saved by Alduin himself surprisingly. How ironic!

After quickly looting the bodies for more arrows, gold, and treasures to sell or add to her collection, she hurries along into the ruin, eager to find what enemies and goodies awaited within the ancient halls of his bolt upon the mountain. As she first enters, she finds a bandit thug sleeping on the far side of the first chamber, easily slinking to the lone woman and cracking her skull open with her steel mace, quickly ending her and looting what little was on her person before continuing on to the broken fire trap set before her. She waits and watches the pattern of the flames, grabbing the opportunity to leap over the flames when the highest one diminished before continuing down the corridor. She quickly picks the lock of the gate before her, spotting her target with two other men around a fire. She pulls out her bow, poisoning one of her arrows with a new poison she was experimenting with, made of deathbell, canis root, and chaurus eggs. She notches her bow, holding her breath as she steadied for her shot, releasing it as she lets out her breath and chuckling under her breath as she watched his body drop. She recedes to the shadows as his two goons come to investigate, she slits one's throat then bashes the other with her mace, allowing her to proceed with looting the bodies then proceed to explore the ruins, reaping many goodies before making her return to Markarth, where she sells the valuables she could at the time then proceeds to Muiri's house and waits as the sun goes down, messing with the Amulet of Stendarr she had found on one of the bandits' bodies in the ruin.

"Well, what news?" Cinna glances up, finding Muiri standing before her. "Is Alain-"

"Alain Dufont now lies dead," Cinna responds, cutting the other Imperial off.

"Thank you, that bastard got exactly what he deserved." Muiri sighs, "And I heard about Nilsine...you have more than fulfilled your part of the bargain. Please, take this," She hands Cinna a small coin purse and an enchanted silver ring. "As payment, and a symbol of my affection. I'll never forget you,"

Cinna nods, tying the coin purse to her waist and slipping the ring into her pocket before disappearing into the night, making her way back to the Sanctuary. She climbs down the steps and approaches Astird, who had detected the Imperial's approach and speaks before she was within arm's reach of the Nord.

"You're back," The Nord turn to her as the Imperial stops beside her, "So, how went your first real contract? A bit more exciting than what Nazir's been offering, I'd wager."

"I live only to serve," Cinna hums, flashing her steel dagger between her and Astrid's faces as a coy smile creeped onto her masked face. "Hail Sithis,"

"Oh, very good, very good indeed." Astrid purrs, "You, my dear, are going to fit in here quite nicely. And to think just a few weeks earlier, you were a drunk who woke up in a shack wondering what was going on and bragging about Grelod. You've changed quite a bit,"

"I guess it came with the new life," Cinna teases, sheathing her dagger as she spoke. "But what's next for my duties to the Family?"

"Well, now, eager for more kills already?" Astrid inquires, Cinna nods. "Well, I do need assistance with a matter of a more...personal nature,"

"Is something wrong?" Cinna hums, cocking a brow as the blonde Nord's suddenly uneasiness. "Did something happen while I was gone? Did one of Festus's spells go wrong? Did Arbjorn go on a canine rampage? Did Liz eat Babette or something?"

"No, goodness no," Astrid chuckles half-heartedly at the Imperial's silly guesses, "But...it's Cicero," Cinna immediately straightens up at the mention of her friend of a fool, "Ever since he arrived, his behavior's been...well, erratic would be an understatement. I do believe he is truly mad, but it's worse than that. He's taken to locking himself in the Night Mother's chambers, and talking...to someone, in hushed, but frantic tones. Who is he speaking with? What are they planning? I fear treachery."

"That does seem a bit odd," Cinna hums, "But maybe you're just a bit paranoid, Cicero seems very loyal to the Family, why would he plan treason against someone who he's so loyal too? It doesn't sound at all to be in Cicero's nature,"

"Perhaps," Astrid sighs, turning fully to the Imperial now. "But healthy paranoia has saved this Sanctuary before, and my gut's telling me that demented little fool is up to something."

"What do you want me to do about it?" Cinna asks, "Even if he's my friend, I can't simply ask him what's going on, that would be a bit too obvious."

"Well, dear sister," Astrid hums, "I need you to steal into that chamber, and eavesdrop on their meeting and see if you can identify the other."

"O-kay," Cinna sighs, "But where am I supposed to hide? I've been in that room before, during my ventures through this place and searching to speak with Cicero. That room has nowhere good to hide: no shadows, no wardrobe, not even a pot."

"True, it'll be no use clinging to the shadows, they'll see you for sure." Astrid hums, "No, you need a hiding place, somewhere they'd never think to look, some place so out there that even I wouldn't think of looking there." She smiles mischievously, making Cinna feel uneasy as equally mischievous eyes shift to her. "Like...inside the Night Mother's coffin,"

Cinna's throat closed up, not in surprise, but more in fear, as the very idea was an unholy combination of her two worst fears: small spaces, and being trapped with a corpse. No matter how much she enjoyed killing people, hiding their bodies, looting their goods, she shuddered at the mere idea of being stuck in a single space with one, especially one that was aged very much so. The idea was good, she just wasn't the person cut out for it, she may just have a panic attack and blow her own cover before the meeting even began.

"I-I'm not really sure about that," Cinna nervously confesses, "I mean, doesn't that just sound a bit...disrespectful?"

"Be that as it may, we have no other choice, you need to remain unseen." Astrid explains, "Now go, before they meet! And report back to me with whatever you learn,"

Cinna reluctantly nods and makes her way to the Night Mother's chambers, only one single thought in mind as she slipped into the room, finally making it verbal when she discovered she was the only one in the room:

"What the fuck have I gotten myself into?"


	6. The Listener

-The Listener-

With a shakily sigh, Cinna approaches the coffin and quickly picks the lock on it, jumping back as it opens, revealing the beyond ageless corpse lying in the tomb. Cinna covers her mouth to prevent a scream from wheezing out, light green dominating her eyes, leaving her pupils as two small pin pricks of black. She ponders whether she could back out now, but the sound of Cicero approaching leaves her no choice. She steps forward and closes the doors, which unknowingly lock as she tries to turn in the cramped space, covering her mouth to prevent further noise as Cicero's humming echoes in the chamber. The chamber falls silent for what seems like minutes before Cicero madly begins to ramble:

"Are we alone? Yes," A creepily, insane laughter, "Yes, alone, sweet solitude. No one will hear us, disturb us. Everything is going according to plan."

Cinna strains to listen, hoping to hear the other person, but seems unable to, even as she presses her ear against the cold metal of the coffin.

"The others, I've spoken to them, and they're coming around, I know it." Cicero continues, "The wizard, Festus Krex...perhaps even the Argonian, and the un-child."

Cinna was slowly becoming more confused, if Cicero was planning treachery, was he trying to get others to turn on Astrid and the Family? She quickly shook her head of the thought, reminding herself who she was talking about, the most loyal of the Brothers, the Keeper of the Night Mother for Akatosh's sake! Why would he turn against his own Family?

"What about you?" Cicero hums, "Have you...have you spoken to anyone? No...No, of course not." He was beginning to sound cross towards whoever he was speaking to, but who? "I do the talkng, the stalking, the seeing and saying. And what do you do? Nothing! " Cicero pauses, seeming to cool himself down. "Not-not that I'm angry. No, never! Cicero understands." He chuckles, "Cicero always understands, and obeys." He seemed disheartened suddenly, but who was he talking to that was being so silent?

"You will talk when you're ready, won't you? Won't you...sweet Night Mother?"

Cinna was then more confused, relieved, but confused all the same: had Cicero been talking to a corpse the entire time? Seems Astrid's assumption on him being mad may have been true after all, who else but a madman would talk to a corpse and hope it would respond? Such silly nonsense, but it was Cicero after all, what else was to be expected?

"Poor Cicero, dear Cicero."

Cinna's heart stops as the whisper reached her ear, wondering who it was that spoke. There was no one in the room but Cicero, so who could it be? But more importantly, how had they gotten behind her? She quietly shifts to turn and see, only to meet the face of the corpse she was sharing the space with. She quietly chuckles and shakes her head, there was no possible way that a corpse could-

"Such a humble servant, but he will never hear my voice, for he is not the Listener."

Cinna can only gawk silently as Cicero went on, wondering if she was the only one who heard that, but being told so by Cicero's irate ramblings.

"Oh, but how can I defend you? How can I exert your will if you will not speak? To anyone!"

"Oh, but I will speak, I will speak to _you_." Night Mother whispers, "For you are the one,"

"M-me?" Cinna murmurs almost inaudibly,

"Yes, you." Night Mother hisses, "You, who shares my iron tomb, who warms my ancient bones. I give you this task: Journey to Volunruud. Speak with Amaund Motierre."

Cinna is left to quiet retreat to her now jumbles thoughts as Cicero's voice rises again,

"Poor Cicero has failed you," He sounded very upset, almost to the point of breaking Cinna's own heart. If only this coffin hadn't locked behind her, "Poor Cicero is sorry, sweet mother. I've tried, so very hard, but I just can't find the Listener."

"Cicero," Cinna barely whispers,

"Tell Cicero the time has come," Night Mother orders, "Tell him the words he has been waiting for, for all these years: Darkness rises when silence dies."

Cinna is barely able to ponder the words when the doors suddenly fly open behind her, startling her as she stumbles back out of the coffin, landing at the feet of the jester, who seemed none too pleased as she turned, then scurried back away from him.

"What?" Cicero gasps, confused by his friend who had just fallen out of the Night Mother's tomb and now sat before him. "What treachery! Defiler! Debaser and defiler! You have violated the sanctity of the Night Mother's coffin! Explain yourself!" Cinna's snatched up by her armor and forced to stand as she's pushed back, nearly stumbling back into the coffin. "Speak, worm!"

"C-Cicero," Cinna stutters, trying to collect her thoughts on all that had just occured. "I-I can explain, the Night Mother spoke me to! S-she said 'I am the one', whatever that means."

"She...spoke to you?" Cicero hums, "More treachery! More trickery and deceit! You lie! The Night Mother speaks only to the Listener! And there is-no-Listener!"

"I'm not lying to you, Cicero," Cinna explains, "I would never do that, not to such a dear friend." She notices Cicero's hand on his dagger and puts her hands up, a thought just occuring to her. "Wait! She said...she said to tell you...'Darkness rises when silence dies'."

"She...she said that?" Cicero gasps, "She said those words?" Cinna nods, "To you?" She nods again, "'Darkness rises when silence dies'?" She nods with enough vigor to almost tear her own head off, "But those are the words: The Binding Words, written in the Keeping Tomes, the signal so I would know. Mother's only way of talking to sweet Cicero,"

"Well, will you not gut me then?" Cinna nervously inquires,

"Then...it is true! She is back! Our Lady is back!" Cicero cheers, dancing merrily and giving Cinna bit of relief; she would live to kill another day. "She has chosen a Listener! She had chosen _you_!" Cicero takes Cinna's hands and they spin about the room, Cinna trying to keep on her feet and keep up with the merryman until they end up in front of the coffin again, both heartily laughing with joy. "All hail the Listener!"

The two erupt into further laughter, until the creaking of the door catches both their attention, finding Astrid rushing in from the door.

"By Sithis, this ends now!" She exclaims as she barges in, "Back away, fool! Whatever you've been planning is over!"

"Oh, hello Astird!" Cinna greets Astrid with a chuckle,

"Are you alright?" Astrid asks, hurrying over to Cinna. "I heard the commotion. Who was Cicero talking to? Where's the accomplice? Reveal yourself, traitor!"

"Astird, calm down!" Cinna sighs, still chuckling a bit. "It was all a misunderstanding,"

"I spoke only to the Night Mother!" Cicero states, "I spoke to the Night Mother, but she didn't speak to me. Oh no, she spoke only to her, to the Listener!"

"What? The Listener?" Astrid gasps, "What are you going on about? What is this lunacy?"

"It's not lunacy, Astrid," Cinna states, "It's true,"

"Yes, indeed, it's true, it's true!" Cicero cheers with a jig, "The Night Mother has spoken! The silence has been broken!" He gathers Cinna in an embrace, "The Listener has been chosen!"

"Indeed, I have been chosen," Cinna chuckles returning the embrace as Astrid stared on, seeming confused by all this.

"Cinna, might I have a word with you?" Astrid inquires; Cinna nods, giving the jester one last squeeze before following her outside of the chambers. "When I heard Cicero screaming, I knew you'd been discovered, I feared the worst. Are you all right?"

"I'm fine, Astrid," Cinna confirms, "I'm not dead, am I?"

"Then what in Sithis' name is going on?" Astrid asks, "Cicero spoke to the Night Mother, but she spoke to you? Is this just more of the fool's rambling?"

"As I said before, it's true," Cinna responds, "The Night Mother spoke to me, and she said that I was 'the one', which I assume meant I was the Listener."

"What?" Astrid hums, "So Cicero wasn't talking to anyone else? Just...the Night Mother's body?" Cinna nods, "And the Night Mother, who, according to everything we know, will only speak to the person chosen as Listener...just spoke? Right now? To you?"

"As Akatosh is my witness," Cinna states, "Yes, it is all true. All 100% inexplicably true."

"By Sithis," Astrid gasps, "And...what did she say?"

"She told me that I must speak to someone named Amaund Motierre, in Volunruud." Cinna explains, "I have no idea who that is, or where this Volunruud is. Do you know anything?"

"Amaund Motierre?" Astrid puzzles the name in her head, "I have no idea who that is, but Volunruud...that I have heard of, and I know where it is."

"Should I go then?" Cinna ponders aloud, "And talk to this man?"

"No, no!" Astrid responds, "Listen, I don't now what's going on here, but you take your orders from me. Are we clear on that? The Night Mother may have spoken, but I am still the leader of this Family. I will not have my authority so easily dismissed."

"But it sounded like it was important," Cinna hums,

"I-I need time to think about all this," Astrid sighs, "Go see Nazir, I think he has some work for you do to. I'll find you when I'm ready to discuss the matter further."

"Alright,"

Cinna watches as Astrid walks away, then sighs and glances into the room as Cicero, who gave her a cheerful grin. She nods and takes off to find Nazir; Cicero's grin disapates when she vanishes from sight, leaving him to ponder over everything, but more specifically the new Listener's name, whom he just discovered.

"Cinna?" He mumbles the name under his breath, tossing it around in his brain a bit. "The name sounds familar, but could it be?" He quickly shakes his head, "No, no, of course not. She is safe in Hammerfell, last Cicero heard from her. Selling her arm to earn some decent coin, never had any trouble with anyone, would never creep in the shadows. It couldn't be her, the Listener is my Sister, but she can't be...she couldn't be...could she?" He glances at the door for a moment or two, "If she was, then she surely would've have recognized Cicero, wouldn't she?" He sighs heavily and crosses the room, closing the door then leaning against it. "It has been a while since we last spoke to one another," He murmurs, "Almost six years now, six years since our final letters to one another, seven since we last saw or spoke to on another. Cicero does hope she is alright, he would hate to lose her, she is all that poor Cicero has left in this world...besides Mother."


	7. Delving Deep

-Delving Deep-

Cinna sighs as she notches back a steel arrow on Lightning's string, aiming for the vampire who was working the saw mill in the late hours of the evening. She had been waitng, perched behind a tree just so, with no witnesses and no obstructions to prevent her task. She releases the arrow and watches as Hern drops, then hurries to go collect the house key, gold, and lockpicks on his person before hurrying back to Cassius, who waiting just behind the saw mill, drinking from the stream. They head off to the Sanctuary, which was only a short ride away.

She climbs down the stairs to the Sanctuary, eager to turn in her contracts that were done in a week's time, when she finds Astrid approaching her.

"We need to talk."

"Oh, has the time come?" Cinna hums. "Will I now serve the Night Mother?"

"Look." Astrid sighs. "Something is happening here. I'm not sure entirely what that something it, but...well, we need to find out. If the Night Mother really did give you an order to talk to a contact, we'd be mad to ignore it. And I think we'd both agree, Cicero's brought enough madness to this Sanctuary." Cinna giggles at the mention of the jester, but settles down long enough to let Astrid finish. "So go, go to Volunruud. It's a crypt, pretty far to the northeast. Talk to Amaund Motierre, and let's see where all this leads. Hmm?"

"Alright!" Cinna chirps. "I'll turn my contracts in, lighten my load of goodies, store my collection additions, _then_ I'll head on my way."

She scurries along, turning in her contracts to Nazir then making her way to her bed, emptying her collected bits into the end table drawer, which contained an assortment of keys, jewelry, enchanted cowls, and other small trinkets. She then moves to her chest, pulling out a steel mace she requested Festus to crafted in his spare time, seeing as her contracts stole most of her time already, and her skills in enchantment were very meager at best. The mace was enchanted with fire damage, specially crafted to deal with the draugr she would face in the crypts scattered across Skyrim, and one she blessed with the name Scorn. She exchanges it with her worn, bloody steel mace, and swaps her shield with an enchanted one she found during one of her raids of a bandit cave, made to deflect even the strongest of spells from the Drauger Wrights and their annoying frost magic. She also resupplies her arrows, restocks her poisons, and swaps out her cowl with a maskless cowl to have her own mask on, which she laced with tundra cotton soaked in lavender oil, as it helped block out the lingering scent of aged decay in the crypts. After making sure her armor was in good shape and her potions were in decent stock, she makes her way to the exit, but then makes a detour for the Night Mother's chambers, surprised to find Cicero was not there.

"Looking for me, dear Listener?"

Cinna jumps and turns, sighing in relief to find Cicero behind her. "Actually, I was." She chuckles, digging into her pocket. "I wanted to give you something, as a token of our friendship that has developed over these past few weeks." She pulls out an Amulet of Talos. "I'm not sure if you are a follower of any of the Aedra, but this amulet is one of my most precious possessions, and I'd only trust a close friend to hold onto it." She places the amulet in the smaller Imperial's hand and closes his hand around it. "Whether you're a follower or not, I want you to keep it, in case anything should happen."

"Of course, dear Listener." Cicero gleefully states. "Cicero shall guard this trinket as if it were his own, thank you for such a gift."

"It's no trouble at all." Cinna chuckles, patting the jester on the shoulder. "Just make sure not to lose it, alright? I know I've nearly lost that thing a couple of times myself."

"It shall not leave Cicero's person." Cicero promises.

"Good." Cinna sighs. "Now I best be off, I have a long ways to go for my next journey." She takes off down the corridor.

"Where is the Listener heading to?" Cicero inquires, turning to Cinna.

Cinna stops and turns back to the fool. "Volunruud, by order of our Mother."

With that, she takes off down the stairs at the end of the corridor, leaving Cicero to stand and examine the amulet of the hero-god that had been left in his care.

"Strange." He murmurs, running his fingers along the engraved patterns on the trinket. "This Cinna is a follower of Talos, and so was _my_ Cinna, she believed that true power came from one's heart, not one's arm. That the will to fight, the strength to lead and follow, all came from within your very soul." He enters the Night Mother's chambers, slipping the amulet around his neck and tucking it underneath his armor with a heavy sigh. "I can't say she was wrong, not after everything that has happened."

Meanwhile, across Skyrim, Cinna finally arrives at the crypt, leaping off of Cassius and leaping down into the small indent of the crypt entrance before slipping into the underground graveyard. She easily slips through the first part of the corridor, coming to a way that split into three different paths. She slinks to one of them and follows it to a chamber, leading her right to her contact, an upstanding Breton.

Why would he want someone killed? She thought as she carefully entered the chamber and approached the Breton.

"By the almighty Divines, you've come. You've actually come." Amaund gasps. "This deadful Black Sacrament thing. It worked."

"The Night Mother heard your pleas, Motierre." Cinna states.

"Yes, um...so it would seem. Well, I won't waster your time." Amaund sighs. "I would like to arrange a contract. Several, actually."

"Several?"

"Yes." Amaund confirms. "I daresay, the work I'm offering has more significance than anything your organization has experienced in, well, centuries."

"Go on."

"As I said, I want you to kill several people." Amaund restates. "You'll find the targets, as well as their manners of elimination, quite varied. I'm sure someone of your disposition will probably even find it enjoyable."

"Well, I do enjoy a bit of variety when it comes to killing methods." Cinna hums, swinging her mace beside her as she spoke."Especially if it involves something new and strange."

"But you should know that these killings are but a means to an end, for they pave the way to the most important target, the real reason I'm speaking with a cutthroat in the bowels of this detestable crypt." Amaund states. "For I seek the assassination of...the Emperor."

Cinna releases her mace in surprise, sending it flying across the room, and allowing it to crash against the wall with a loud thud before complete silence dominates the room. "You want us to kill...the Emperor? Of Tamriel?" She gasps.

"That is correct." Amaund states. "What I ask is no small thing, of course, but you represent the Dark Brotherhood. This is...what you do? No?"

"Well, we do kill." Cinna sighs. "But this is quite a big-"

"You must understand." Amaund interupts. "So much has led to this day, so much planning, and maneuvering. Now, it's as if the very stars have finally aligned, but I digress. Here, take these, they need to be delivered to your, um...superior. Rexus!" He claps as he calls for his bodyguard nearby, who was hiding beside the doorway. How Cinna hadn't noticed him when she entered was beyond her. "The items." The guard dressed in Imperial armor approaches, handing Cinna a sealed letter and a strange jeweled amulet, she examines the amulet as Amaund continues. "The sealed letter will explain everything that needs to be done. The amulet is quite valuable, you can use it to pay for any and all expenses."

She tucks both items away and quickly exits the chambers, grinning mischeviously as the entrance leading further into the crypt seemed to call out to her.

"Well, I'm sure the Emperor isn't going anywhere for quite some time." Cinna sighs, pulling out Scorch from her waist. "I can probably do a bit of grave robbing and skull crushing while I'm still here, it wouldn't hurt a bit really. Just a bit of fun."

After about an hour or so of running around Volunruud, fighting draugr and retrieving some gold and new weapons, Cinna quickly retreats to Cassius and takes off for the Sanctuary.

Back at the Sanctuary, Cicero sits at the large table in his room, tapping his fingers on one of his older journals that lay sprawled across the table. He carefully opened the journal and pulled out a small, aged envelope from inside, the wax seal embezzled with the symbol of Hammerfell still in one piece. He carefully opens the envelope and pulls out the well-preserved letter from inside, sadly sighing as he read it to himself, as he had for the past five years or so since it was sent to him, following each stroke with his eye as the words formed together like pieces of a very ancient puzzle, coming together with the signature at the end of the letter that would be gibberish to most, but he knew the name best: Cinna.

"Cicero."

The fool jumps, dropping the letter as he turns, finding Babette standing in the entryway to his room, who was chuckling with delight.

"Sorry to scare you like that." The vampire chuckles.

"It's alright, un-child." Cicero cheerfully states as he recomposes himself. "Come in if you wish, it would bother Cicero not if you did."

"Thanks." Babette sighs. "But I just wanted to tell you that if you see Cinna, which I know you will since you're both such good friends, to let her know that the poison she requested me to make for her is done and to come find me if she still wants it." She notices the letter on the table. "Um, what's that you're reading?"

Cicero quickly covers the letter with his hand, making sure the words were unseeable by the vampire child. "It's nothing you need to worry about, nothing at all."

"Well, alright." Babette sighs as she shrugs, then turns and leaves, allowing Cicero to breath a sigh of relief as she disappears from view.

He picks up the latter again, glancing over it one last tme before placing it in the envelope and back it the book where it belonged, then stands and heads for the Night Mother's chambers as he hums merrily.

Cinna sighs tiredly as she climbs off Cassius and makes her way into the bowels of the Sanctuary, completely exhausted from the trip across the country that took nearly a week of her time to preform. She makes her way to Astrid, who was waiting by the stairway into the rest of the Sanctuary, sighing tiredly as she pulls her mask down to breath some fresh air, mentally noting to herself to replace the tundra cotton in her mask. It was beginning to absord the stench more than repel it.

"You're back, good." Astrid murmurs as Cinna slumps against the opposite side of the entryway. "So? Did you meet this Motierre? What did he want?"

"You won't believe this." Cinna sighs. "But Moltierre wants us...to kill the Emperor."

"You're joking." Astrid scoffs.

"I wish I was." Cinna admits, pulling up the letter and amulet and handing the items to Astrid.

"What's this?"

"The letter explains it all." Cinna explains. "And the amulet is for expenses."

Astrid opens the letter and begins to read it, allowing Cinna to make her way to the stone chair on the other side of the table and lie down in it in a way a child would upon returning home from a tiresome day of outdoor play, propping her legs up on the table and allowing herself to sink as far into the solid chair as possible.

"By Sithis, you're not joking." Astrid gasps as she finishes the letter. "To kill the Emperor of Tamriel...the Dark Brotherhood hasn't done such a thing since the assassination of Pelagius. As a matter of fact, no one has dared assassinate an Emperor of Tamriel since the murder of Uriel Septim, and that was two hundred years ago."

"Yeah, I remember my parents telling me about that." Cinna comments. "But surely the Night Mother wouldn't misdirect us like this."

"No, she certianly wouldn't." Astrid sighs. "And...for whatever reason, she chose to relay Motierre's information to you." She looks over the letter again then finally turns to Cinna, who was almost on the verge of falling asleep. "I don't know exactly what's going on here, if you're the Listener, or this is some fluke, or what, but what we now have before us..."

"So, are we gonna accept the contract or not?" Cinna tiredly inquires with a yawn.

"You're damn right we'll accept it!" Astird exclaims, slamming her fist on the stone table and startling Cinna from her semi-conscious state. "If we pull this off, the Dark Brotherhood will know a fear and respect we haven't seen in centuries. You think I'd abandon an opportunity to lead my Family to glory?"

"I guess not." Cinna murmurs.

"But this is all so much to take in." Astrid sighs. "I need time to examine the letter, and figure out where we go from here. And this amulet..."

"What are you thinking?" Cinna cautiously asks.

"I'm thinking we need that amulet appraised," Astrid explains. "I want to know where it came from, how much it's worth, and if we can actually get away with selling it. And, there's only one man who can give us what we need: Delvin Mallory. He's a fence, a private operator, works out of the Ratway, in Riften."

"Yeah, I've heard of him." Cinna states, groaning as she sits up. "I have some friends that work with the Thieves Guild down that way, and I think one of them is apprenticing Delvon."

Astrid hands the amulet back to Cinna. "Bring Mallory the amulet, find out everything you can, and sell it is he's willing. He'll offer a letter of credit, that's fine." Astrid explains.

"Or I could see if one of my buddies has the money for it down there." Cinna offers. "My friend Xahley has made a fortune working for them down there, earned enough to buy Proudspire in Solitude and support her two little girls and husband-to-be."

"Well, Delvin Mallory and the Dark Brotherhood have...history," Astrid explains. "He can be trusted, but get your friend involved if she's willing to keep a secret."

"You kidding?" Cinna chuckles. "This is the girl who could steal the Elder Scroll and not even utter a word about it, she'll keep any secret you tell her, despite being a Khajiit."

"Alright." Astrid sighs, chuckling as Cinna yawns, trying to cover it with her hand. "But you best get some rest before you head to Riften, you deserve it after all you've done so far."

Cinna nods and stumbles away, finding her way to her bed and flopping down on his, curling up and soon falling asleep as fatigue quickly took over. She wakes early the next morning, quietly putting her valuables away, switching her weapons around, and repairing a tear in her cowl from an arrow that nearly embedded itself in her head at Volunruud before switching it for her the masked cowl. She then goes to make a quick batch of lavender oil and prepare three bits of tundra cotton for soaking, unaware of the person behind her until a hand on her shoulder spooks her. She turns and pulls out her sharpened Orcish dagger, groaning under her breath when she finds Cicero behind her then quickly sheathes her dagger.

"Hey, Cicero." Cinna greets, still a bit groggy from her sleep. "How are you up so early?"

"Oh. Cicero is always up early to care for dear Mother." Cicero explains. "But what is the Listener brewing up this early in the morning?"

"Lavender oil." Cinna states, returning to the tundra cotton she was seperating from the stems. "I soak tuffs of tundra cotton in it to freshen my mask, helps to block out certain unwanted smells when you travel and spelunk in every underground domain, especially the crypts that still have aged decay lingering in the air that gets thicker as you make your way deeper into the bowels of the entire place. Almost makes your stomach tear itself apart."

"Ah, but why make it yourself?" Cicero inquires. "Cicero would have gladly given you a bit of his own, I have plenty of it on hand."

"That's sweet of you, Cicero." Cinna chuckles. "But my oil is a bit different from yours, I believe. You see, I mix in a bit of nightshade oil and snowberry juice so that it sticks to the cotton and preserves the scent for longer than usual. I practiced with many recipes, even a few of my own personal experimental mixtures, but an alchemist in Hammerfell taught me to make this lavender oil concoction, and I've never forgotten the recipe, or the process to make it, or that sweet old woman for teaching me the whole thing."

"You were in Hammerfell?" Cicero gasps.

"For a time, yes." Cinna admits with a chuckle. "I worked there a bit after escaping from my dreary life in Cyrodil. You know how it is down there: there's nothing really to do besides travel and hunt, unless you get into the darker depths of it."

"Cicero sees your point." Cicero sighs. "But why Hammerfell? Why not Elsweyr, or Valenwood? Or why not come straight to Skyrim?"

"Well, it felt right to travel to Hammefell at the time." Cinna explains. "I had dreams of becoming a warrior when I left home, and I went there to train in the Fighter's Guild. The guild there was said to be the toughest in all of Tamriel, so I went to see myself."

"So you wished to become a warrior? Interesting." Cicero murmurs. "But then why come to Skyrim? And futhermore, why join the Family?"

"Well." Cinna sighs, letting the cotton sit in the bowl of lavender oil as she sat down at the large table nearby. "I originally came to Skyrim because rumors of war rising here was passed to me down in Hammerfell from a friend that travelled through here, and some of our strongest were going to go and prove themselves in it, since there hadn't been a war in Hammerfell in many years. I waited until I finished my training before traveling here, but only just crossed the border when I ran into three Nords and a horse. I got knocked out by the horse's hoof leaving an impression on my skull, next thing I know, I wake up in the back of a wagon with the same three Nords and a Khajiit, on my way to Helgen to be excecuted."

"Helgen?" Cicero gasps. "The town attacked by a dragon? How did you escape?"

"With the help of the Stormcloaks and my Khajiit companion." Cinna states. "They let me loose, suited me up, and helped me escape. After that, I was free to live my new life in Skyrim, but that's a story that's not quite finished yet, I'm still trying to figure out the ending."

"Alright." Cicero sighs. "But then why did you join the Family? You've told Cicero how it all happened, but you could have easily ignored the invitation, so why did you sought out the Sanctuary, join the Family and become an assassin when you wish to be a warrior?"

"Well, dear Cicero." Cinna chuckles. "I didn't know at first myself, I wasn't even sure I was up to it when I first soughted out for this place, but I think I finally figured it out after my first contract from Astrid. After I killed that bandit leader, your words came back to me: Some _become_ killers, some are _born_ killers. I knew then why I went searching for Aventus, why I accepted his contract, why I played Astrid's choose-a-victim game, and why I came to join the Family. I wanted to become a noble warrior, to fight alongside my fellow soldiers and charge into heated battle, but I was born a killer, born with the ability to know how to slit someone's throat in a public place without being caught, born with the skills to sneak through lit corridors since I could walk, born to persuade people and lull them into a false security since my father taught me how to do so. I'm an assassin by soul, Cicero, that's why I joined the Family, and it only took your words to make me realize it." She chuckles dryly and rises from her seat, going to check on her cotton. "Kinda funny actually."

"Funny?" Cicero hums, rising from his seat as well. "How so?"

"Well." Cinna sighs, turning back to Cicero. "I have a brother back in Cyrodil who dreamed of being an elite assassin, and went after that dream after we escaped from home. Well, I escaped, he was of age to leave home at the time, and helped me slip out with ease. I last spoke with him when he was still in Cheydinhal, but that was so many years ago, he could be anywhere by now, probably gutting some poor farmer who crossed the wrong stall owner for some over-priced produce. It would be funny to write a letter to him now and tell him that I've joined the Dark Brotherhood here in Skyrim, he would be excited, but also very surprised. Then again, he's usually excited by anything I do."

"Sounds like you and your brother were close."

"We were." Cinna chuckles, pulling the cotton tuff out and carefully stuffing them into the mask. "Despite being my elder of two years, we acted almost like twins: we never went anywhere without each other once I learned to walk and talk, we would explore the entire city, we even tried to venture into the forests once, but our father caught us. And we promised each other that by the time we were of age, we would get away from our parents and pursue our own dreams. I was too impatient, of course, and he didn't want to leave me to be brain washed by our parents, so he snuck me out the night he left and took me all the way to Chorrol, gave me three hundred septims to start with, and headed to Cheydinhal. I never saw him after that day, and I only wrote a single letter to him, letting him know I made it to Elinhir, and that I had joined the Fighter's Guild there. We promised to only write a single letter to each other, that way our parents couldn't find me if they ever tracked him down to ask where I went. I was going to write him again after I came of age, but I was so busy doing jobs and such, that I lost track of time. A year seemed like a week, and seven years seemed like seven months, and when he didn't write me again, I figured he was busy as well. I wish I knew where he was right now though." She sadly admits, sewing the open seam of her mask closed as she turns to Cicero. "I'd give anything to hear word from him again."

"I'm sure you will hear from him in time." Cicero reassures Cinna. "If he does care for you as much as he does, he will try to find you. Who knows? He might be here in Skyrim right now, tracing your lines across Skyrim to try and locate you."

"Maybe." Cinna sighs, glancing up at Cicero before embracing the smaller Imperial. "Thanks. I really needed to get some of that off my chest, I've never told anyone about my past before, so it's relaxing to know someone is willing to listen."

"Of course, dear Listener." Cicero returns the embrace. "Cicero is always loyal to the Listener and her needs, just as he is to dear Mother."

"That's good to hear." Cinna states, soon breaking away from the fool. "But I best get going, I have business in Riften to take care of."

"Of course." Cicero sighs. Cinna walks past him and begins to make her way to the exit when a thought occured to him. "Listener, wait." Cinna stops and turns to the fool. "Babette wanted Cicero to tell you that the poison you requested has been finished."

"Oh, I completely forgot about that." Cinna gasps. "Um, tell her I'll get it from her when I return from Riften, I might use it in one of my next few contracts coming up. See if she can make some more if she's up to it, I have some important contracts that may need some more to ensure my job is done effectively. Can you do that for me?"

"Of course, Listener!" Cicero gleefully chimes. "Cicero shall deliver the message for you."

With that, Cinna takes off out of the Sanctuary yet again, leaving Cicero to ponder to himself yet again, this time over Cinna's entire past story.

"So many similarities." Cicero murmurs as he makes his way to the Night Mother's chambers. "This Cinna went to Hammerfell, looking to become a warrior, just like _my_ Cinna did. She ran away from her parents in Cyrodil, just like _mine_ did, and sent a letter to her brother when she was in Elinhir, just as _mine_ did. And she said her older brother joined the Cheydinhal Sanctuary, just as _I_ did." He stops just outside the iron doors, pondering over all the similarities between the two girls in his head, wondering how much of a coincidence it could be for two different people to match up like this. There was still a possibility, in the back of Cicero's mind, that could make sense of all this, but he had to see one more thing before he was sure. He sighs and enters the Night Mother's chambers, wondering when he'd be able to get a peek behind this mysterious Cinna's mask.


	8. Friends and Tears

-Friends and Tears-

"Hey, pass me another ale!" The young Khajiit barks, catching an ale that's thrown to her from the bar before returning to the man before her, popping the cork out as she continues her current story. "Where was I?...Oh yeah! Totally fooled the guy into selling it for less than half of what it was worth. That thing was at least eight hundred, but Xahley managed to get him to sell it for only two hundred fifty." The two fences burst out into laughter, tapping their bottles together before chugging them down.

"I must say, Xahley, you're learning very well from me." Delvin states. "But you still have quite a ways to go before you can become a fence yourself."

"Meh, details, details." Xahley huffs with a wave of her hand. "Long as Xahley gets plenty of gold along the way, it'll be fine. Between the Thieves Guild, selling my pillaged goods across Skyrim, and the Skooma operation up near Solitude, Xahley is almost set for life with all this gold. Just need to get this fence thing down, and Xahley can spend the rest of life pillaging caves and crypts until the bones can't carry anything anymore, then Xahley will move down here and start fencing professionally. Keep the line running."

"Then I assume you'll begin teaching your girls how to pillage?" Delvin asks.

"Yes." Xahley sighs happily. "Xahley has already started teaching them how to pick pocket: Lucia still needs a bit of practice, but Runa managed to slip one of the rings Xahley found in her travels without notice during her last vist to Lakeview. Xahley only found out when she gave it back during dinner that evening. She'll be the next one to take over this guild, or at least take Vex's place once she's dead and gone." She leans back in her chair, taking a large bite out of cooked beef in her hand. "Lucia says she wants to be like her father, join the Companions and become Harbringer like Uncle Ibgirn." The two fences bellow in laughter.

"Sounds like the girl's determined." Delvin comments. "How old is she, anyway?"

"She'll be ten this coming month." Xahley states. "And Xahley is working on trying to find a gift for her, but has only ever seen it once. Xahley is hoping someone around here finds one that she can buy off them and give to her. It suits her so well for her age."

Delvin opens his mouth to ask, but spots someone behind Xahley, causing him to become quiet. Xahley notices this and glances over her shoulder, being spooked by the dark figure behind her in what appeared to be Dark Brotherhood armor, their face shielded by their hood and mask, but seeming to have a familiar prescence and scent to Xahley.

"You must be lost." Delvin states. "Best ya scurry off while you're able. The Ratway, well, it has a habit of swallowin' up the uninvited."

"The Dark Brotherhood requires your services, Delvin."

"Oh." Delvin sighs. "Oh, I see."

"Cinna?" Xahley gasps, wiping away the crumbs and dirt littering her snow white muzzle when she recognizes the voice. "What are _you_ doing down here? How did you even find this place? Not many people know the way through the Ratway."

"Xahley." Cinna chuckles. "I thought I would run into down here at some point."

"You know this girl, Xahley?" Devlin asks.

"Yes." Xahley chuckles. "This is the 'Aunt Cinna' Lucia always refers to."

"Telling more stories about me again, Xahley?" Cinna inquires, ruffling the Khajiit's messily braided brown locks, the Khajiit whines in protest.

"Stop that." Xahley groans, waving the Imperial's hand away. "Xahley is not a child."

"You are my youth though." Cinna states.

"By two years!"

Cinna simply rolls her eyes and returns to Delvin. "Anyway, back to my original business."

"Right." Delvin sighs. "How is Astrid doin' these days, uh? Tell her to stop by some time. We can have a drink, and catch up."

"Same here with you, Mrs. 'I-won't-be-a-stranger-buddy'." Xahley states, playfully socking her Imperial friend in the arm. "Stop by The Bee and Bard some time, drinks on Xahley."

"I've been quite busy, Xahley." Cinna scoffs. "With Family matters. But I'll consider it."

"Ah, but we can discuss that later, yeah?" Xahley hrmphs back into her chair as Delvin continues. "What does the Brotherhood need?"

"What can you tell me about this?" Cinna asks, pulling out the jeweled amulet.

"Let me see that!" Xahley snaps, snatching the amulet from Cinna and looking it over in her hand. "Doesn't look like any amulet Xahley has ever come across."

"Let me see." Delvin orders. Xahley reluctantly hands over the amulet and allows her mentor to look over it. "Where oh where did you get this? Don't answer...I don't want to know."

"What is it?" Xahley asks, rising from her seat and walking around behind Delvin, looking over his shoulder at the amulet. "A family heirloom maybe? A priceless artifact? Is it special?"

"Special?" Delvin hums. "This is an amulet of the Emperor's Elder Council, specially crafted for each member, worth a small fortune. Ain't something you'd give up lightly."

"Wow." Xahley gasps, her eyes twinkling with intrigue. "The stories those jewels could tell if they could speak, what dark secrets they would spill."

"Calm down, Xahley." Delvin sighs then glances towards Cinna suspiciously, meeting gaze with light green eyes. "Look, it ain't my business to tell the Dark Brotherhood its business, but if you killed a member of the Elder Council, you'd better belie-"

"Would you be willing to buy it?" Cinna inquires.

"Buy it?" Both fences gasp.

"This? An Elder Council amulet?" Delvin ponders aloud. "Oh yes. Oh yes, indeed. Xahley, can you get one of those letters I have you hold onto? One of the ones labeled _Astrid_." The Khajiit pulls out one of the said letters and hands it to Delvin, who hands it to Cinna. "Here, it's a letter of credit. Usable by Astrid only, for any servce or item I can provide, as per out standard arrangement." Cinna reluctantly takes the letter and conceals it in her satchel. "You bring that back to your lovely mistress, with my regards."

"Delvin." Xahley chuckles, lightly smacking the man's shoulder as she stands. "Don't try swooning this Astrid girl through Cinna, that's just teasing. Do it face-to-face." She looks up as Cinna turns and walks away. "Hold on...Cinna!" Xahley chases after the Imperial, reaching her just before she exits to the Ratway, catching her breath as the Imperial turns to her.

"Yes, Xahley?" Cinna hums, turning to her Khajiit friend.

"Here." The Khajiit pulls out a small coin purse and hands it to Cinna, "Consider it payment for the trouble you went through to bring that amulet down here to Delvin. Not just anybody can make it through the Ratway so easily, it gave Xahley a rough time as well, and she forgot to drop the bridge afterwards, so Xahley has been through that quite a few times."

"It's no trouble." Cinna chuckles, tying the coin purse to her waist. "Thank you, and keep safe, my friend. I'll try to stop by once I finish this current contract of mine, alright?"

"I'll be holding you to it." Xahley remarks, bidding her friend farewell before returning to Delvin and the rest of the Guild, being approached by Brynjolf as she returns to her table.

"Interesting friend of yours, lass." He hums, watching Cinna as she slips out the door. "Think she'd have any interest joining the Guild?"

"Don't count on it, Brynjolf." Xahley chuckles, patting the man on the back before returning to her seat. "She'd promise her soul to the Imperial Army before she'd become a thief, and she hates her homeland with an ever-burning passion, so those chances are extremely slim."

"Anyway her mind could be changed?" Brynjolf hums. "She would be a good asset to the guild, even if she is an assassin and all."

"Trust me, Brynjolf." Xahley explains, taking a swig from her new ale bottle. "That girl might sneak like a thief, but her soul belongs to Sithis now, and that's not about to change, even from those honeyed words of yours that got Xahley into all this. Not only because she's stubborn." She takes another swig and chuckles. "But because she's not as gullible as Xahley."

...

Cinna makes her way back to the Sanctuary, only stopping to rest at Riverwood before returning to the Sanctuary by late in the evening, immediately approaching Astrid.

"Good, you're back." Astird sighs, turning to Cinna as she approahed. "Well, what did Mallory have to say? Is the amulet authentic?"

"Yep." Cinna confirms. "And specially made for members of the Elder Council."

"The Elder Council?" Astrid gasps. "Oh, now that explains quite a bit. Motierre, you naughty, naughty boy. Hiring the Dark Brotherhood to help you rise beyond your station. Delicious."

"Don't get wet over it all, Astrid." Cinna teases. "We still have a job to do, you can have your wet dreams once we're through with this whole contract."

"Whatever." Astrid scoffs. "Was Mallory willing to buy the amulet?"

"He was more than willing." Cinna chuckles, pulling out the letter she was given. "And here's a letter of credit, for your use only. Oh, and Delvin requested you stop by for a drink sometime, to catch up with his _mistress_."

"Splendid." Astrid hums, taking the note from Cinna. "Then we're ready to begin, or, more specifically, you're ready to being. After all, _you're_ the one the Night Mother spoke to."

"Fine by me." Cinna sighs with a shrug.

"Now then, I hope you have something nice to wear." Cinna cocks a curious brow towards the blonde Nord woman. "Because you're going to a wedding."

"A wedding?" Cinna gasps. "Why?"

"Well, more like the public reception." Astrid elaborates. "It should be a lovely affair: you'll mingle with the guests, eat some cake...stab the bride."

"Wait, what?" Cinna gasps. "Stab the-"

"Oh yes." Astrid hums, a cynical smile upon her lips at the Imperial's confusion. "You've got to kill the bride, at her wedding. And they say romance is dead."

"Enough talk already." Cinna scoffs. "Who do I need to kill and how?"

"Very well." Astrid hums. "The target's name is Vittoria Vici, she oversees the East Empire Company's business holdings in Solitude. The wedding is being held in that city, at the Temple of the Divines. Her death will cause an uproar, which is exactly what we want."

"O-kay." Cinna sighs uneasily.

"And remember, we want people to notice." Astrid informs. "Kill Vici while she's addressing her guests, as it the custom, and I can promise a bonus." Cinna heavily sighs then shrugs again. "Now go, and give the bride a special kiss, from me."

"It shall be delivered on the tip of an arrow." Cinna chuckles darkly before making her way to the depths of the Sanctuary, stopping herself as her foot hit soil and shaking her head, seeming strangely confused. "Where did _that_ come from?" She murmurs to herself then straightens up and presses on to search for her un-child friend, who waited at the alchemy table, fresh bottles of poison in hand.

"There you are." Babette sighs. "I figured you forgot until Cicero told me about your newest contract sending you across Skyrim and back, but here are those poisons you asked for." She hands over several dark vials with a unique label on them: a white thumbprint against a dark red background. "Need them for these next few targets? Do you?"

"Yes." Cinna sighs, taking the vials and stowing them in her satchel. "And if you wouldn't mind, could you concentrate a vial of it for me too? I'll need it for-"

"For the Emperor?" Babette hums, chuckling at Cinna's surprised expression. "What? You think word of that wouldn't get around? You're lucky you get to perform this contract, it's the chance of a lifetime for most assassins, be proud of it. And I'll work on concentrating that sample for you, just enough to put on your blade and slit his throat to kill him instantly."

"Thanks." Cinna murmurs, making her way to her resting place.

"And by the way." Cinna turns back to the unchild. "Cicero told me he wanted to see you when you returned. He's been acting rather strange lately, maybe you can figure out why."

"Strange? Strange how?" Cinna inquires.

"Well, when I went to inform him of your poison, he was very shifty, more than usual." Babette states. "And he was reading something that he said was, quote 'nothing I need to worry about', but I'm not so sure."

"What was he reading?"

"It looked like an old letter, probably quite a few years old, but that's all I could tell." Babette explains. "I could barely get a glimpse of a word before he covered it up, aside from his name in an odd script writing, possible a woman's handwriting."

"Maybe it's a letter from a past Sister in Cyrodil." Cinna suggests. "Maybe even an old lover?"

"Maybe." Babette sighs. "I'll try and look into it a bit, but you still may want to speak with him Talking to you seems to calm him a lot, so it'll help him at least."

"Alright." Cinna then begins making her way to the Night Mother's chambers. She peeks into the chambers to find Cicero oiling the Night Mother, as was part of his responsibilities as Keeper. She patiently waits until he is done before approaching him. "Cicero?"

"Ah, the Listener has returned!" Cicero cheers. "Cicero has heard of your new contract: To kill the Emperor! Only the Listener should have such an honor to do so."

"I suppose." Cinna chuckles. "But how have things been here since I left? Since word got around so quickly, I'm wondering who spilled the beans on the contract."

"Why, Astrid herself told us of it once she confirmed everything herself." Cicero explains. "Everyone was rater surprised but also joyful for this contract, since we've not preformed such a contract for many years, it is a joyous occasion!"

"Well, I'm sure we can celebrate _after_ the contract has been fulfilled." Cinna states. "Until then, we have much work to do and not very much time to do so. Now I have to get to a wedding all the way in Solitude...Joy."

"A wedding?" Cicero gasps curiously. "Why is the Listener going to such merry festivities?"

"I need to kill the bride." Cinna reluctantly explains. "As much as I resent wanting to do such on this girl's special day, it's what the contact wants and what the contract requires."

"I'm sure you'll be able to pull it off." Cicero states happily, but he then notices Cinna less-than-enthused demeanor. She seemed less than happy about this contract. "And if you ever need a ear to relieve any secrets, Cicero is always willing to lend his to his fellow Listener."

"Thanks, I might take you up on that." Cinna chuckles, cracking a half-hearted smile. "But I best be off. Solitude is quite ride away, and I'd rather not be late for the party."

"Good luck, Listener!" Cicero cheers as Cinna exits the chambers and makes her way out of the Sanctuary, humming the wedding march as she climbs onto Cassius and takes off for Solitude, but first stopping by Markarth to buy some clothing before continuing on.

She slips on her clothing: a set of fine clothing dyed blue with a bear pelt shrug and golden accents, and fur-lined boots, in the cover of the trees near Solitude and makes her approach to the cliffside city, slipping on her hand-made silver and sapphire circlet, brushing aside bright red bangs as she approached the walls of the city. Her first visit to this city was none too pleasent as she watched a man be executed by his own people because of a mere foul up, which would never sit right with her, even if you tried explaining the reasoning to her. Thoughtless killing isn't killing at all to her, it needs a definate purpose, such as money or true punishment, but to kill someone for a slip up like that, it certainly made up her mind on what side she would fight for when the need for war was at a crucial stand point.

Cinna calmly makes her way to the area of the wedding, scoping out the crowd for both her target, whom was easily identified by her wedding apparel, and any guards that were around, which were quite a few given it was such a small reception. She also manages to spot an excellent point to eliminate the bride from: a small, concealed corner above the courtyard, where no one would expect to look or find her. She mingles with the guests, trying to seem like part of the crowd, even being flattered when a few men ask if _she_ wanted to be the next one to wed at the temple. But she turned down all requests, stating she 'wasn't ready for partnership yet', and wanted to live her life some more before she allowed herself to be 'chained down'. She notices Vici and her groom rise from their seats and make their way to the balcony and hurries to her position above, pulling up her mask hidden beneath the fur shrug and makes her way up to her position. She waits in the shadows until the newly weds emerged from the doors. She notches back her arrow, ready to release the tainted message of death, when something in her chest clamped up, causing her body to lock up.

She really didn't wish to do this to this poor woman, not on the day that should be her happiest, and the beginning of a new life. She wished she could just walk away, ignore the entire plan and just go after the Emperor in Cyrodil herself. But it was what must be done to ensure the contract was complete on the contact's terms, and so she aimed and shut her eyes as she released the poisoned arrow, thanking Talos that she would at least die quickly.

She ducks back into the shaded corner as the party goers clamored over the death of the bride, shouting for help from the guards as they begin to search the area for the killer. Cinna tries to collect herself, her heart sinking from what she had just done, trying to tell herself that it was for the good of her Family, but she's unable to still the tears that pour from her eyes. She quietly makes her way back to the stables through the confusion, changing soon as she was out of sight from the guards, then mounting Cassius and taking off back to the Sanctuary at full speed. She would certainly take up Cicero's offer on that listening ear of his.


	9. Family

-Comfort and Family Reunion-

Cinna calmly enters the Sanctuary, trying her best to conceal her face as she approached Astrid, who laughs triumphantly as the Imperial approaches.

"The news is everywhere," She states, "Vittoria Vici, the Emperor's cousin, butchered at her own wedding! Well done!" She firmly pats the Imperial on the shoulder, "Let's see his eminence try to ignore this," Cinna simply remained silent as Astrid continued, "With Vici's murder, you've started us down a path the Dark Brotherhood hasn't traveled in centures: the assassination of an Emperor. And now, your reward." Astrid hands over a unique spellbook with the Black Hand on the cover, "A unique spell to summon a legend of the Dark Brotherhood. His soul serves us now in death, as his body once did in life." Cinna cracks open the book, a flash of blue enveloping her eyes before the book vanishes from her hands. "Ah, and of course, a bonus, for killing Vici while she was addressed her guests, as instructed." She pulls out a small coin purse and tosses it to the Imperial, "Gold, simple and pure, spend is as you will. Now then, time to proceed to the next stage of the plan. Go and speak to Gabriella, she's been helping me arrange your next contract."

Cinna nods and takes off into the Sanctuary depths, but diverts from her path to Gabriella and instead makes her way to Cicero's room, knowing he would be there by this hour. She finds him casually resting in bed, his hands behind his head and his hat on the table beside the bed, allowing his auburn hair to freely cascade around his head. She hesitantly clears her throat, catching the fool's attention as he suddenly leaps from the bed, neglecting his hat completely as her quickly approaches her.

"Dear Listener, Cicero has heard the news!" Cicero happily chirps, "I knew you could pull it off, the Listener never fails in her contracts." A sniffle from the other catches the fool by surprise, just then seeing the tearful gaze of his Listener behind the shade of the hood. "Listener, what seems to be the matter?"

"It was too much," She whispers, trying to keep herself from breaking down as she spoke. "I could barely watch myself go through with it, much less listen to the turmoil below."

This surprised Cicero, very much so because he knew his friend so well, how she would go on about enjoying the ruckus a public kill would stir, getting a chuckle as the guards searched high and low but could never find her, watching as the arrow pierced their chest, or the mace crushed their skull to bits, or the blood spilled over her blade as she dragged it along their neck. To hear that she wasn't able to handle this during this kill, after she had done it many times before, very much took Cicero by surprise. He carefully guides her to his table and sits her down, noticing how she trembled once she was seated, trying to console her as she nearly teeters off the brink of breaking down into tears or breaking down into madness. Listening to her ramble about how her heart stopped when she notched the arrow, how her mind fogged at the thoughts running through it, how her body even went numb after releasing the arrow that so brutally pierced the chest of the bride-to-be. This worried Cicero very much, more than he was so when she left after her comment earlier that day.

When he first met this woman on the road, who was so willing to help him in his time of need, he never could have seen her as an assassin. She seemed to be a brutal warrior, her blood-stained mace and shield copping up to that, but to be an assassin was entirely different. A warrior could kill creatures and bandits without a care, seeing as how they were either beasts of the wild, or born-and-raised cutthroats, who would care? But when it came to people that actually mattered, like Vittoria Vici, that's what made the difference between a warrior and an assassin. It wasn't just who you killed or how, it was how you reacted to killing them that really made the difference, and Cinna's reaction was none too good.

"Perhaps the Listener needs to take a break from everything," Cicero suggests as Cinna attempts to recollect herself after almost breaking down for the third time so far, "Stay in the Sanctuary for a bit, catch up on your rest. The Listener has been neglecting her sleep recently, and that is no good for her, no it is not."

"I-I suppose so, I haven't really slept much since the whole incident within Night Mother's coffin." Cinna murmurs, "Then again, who _could_ after going through all that?"

"Then take some time to rest," Cicero states again, "The Emperor will take his time in arriving for the funeral, so you must take your time to catch up on your sleep."

"A-alright," Cinna stutters, shakily rising from her seat but is surprised when Cicero immediately leaps to her side, wrapping her arm around his shoulders.

"Cicero shall help you to bed, you need not stumble on your own like this."

Cinna nods and allows the fool to guide her to her bed, helping her lie down and immediately falling to sleep soon after.

"Sweet dreams, Listener,"

-One Week Later-

Cinna sighs as she takes another sip from her wine, finding herself much more at ease then she was the week before, all thanks to the fool that sat across from her. She had to admit, she could not have made it nearly as long without Cicero with her through it all. The two were almost like brother and sister themselves, not even in the sense of their Family either. They always looked out for one another, even if they weren't obligated to to so, and they could never be apart for too long either. They were almost joined at the hip for the past week Cinna had taken for herself to recollect, and now she felt she was ready to continue.

"Are you sure you wish to continue this contract?" Cicero inquires, "Surely someone else would be willing to take up the contract instead,"

"I'll be fine, Cicero," Cinna chuckles, "The whole Vici thing just really got to me, that's all. This contract is a real honor to have, and I have to see it through to the end, not just for the Family, but for myself as well."

"Alright, if you say so," Cicero sighs, "But don't try and stress yourself so much, the Listener does not need another breakdown like that."

"I'll try not to," Cinna finishes off her wine and stands from the table, "Thank you, Cicero, for all that you've done. I'll see you upon my return,"

"Good luck, Listener."

"You too, Keeper."

Cinna exits the room and makes her way to the alchemy area, where she finds Gabriella working at the alchemy table and approaches.

"Ah, dear sister," Gabriella hums, "How are feeling?"

"Better," Cinna sighs, "I'm ready to continue with my current contract,"

"Good, I've been waiting to hear that from you. Your next contract still awaits,"

"What are the details?"

"With the Emperor's arrival in Skyrim now a certainty, his security service, the Penitus Oculatus, will need to begin its preparations." Gabriella states, "Security is being handled by a Commander Maro. Astrid and I have devised a plan to break the man, and in doing so, cripple the Emperor's protection."

"Commander Maro?" Cinna gasps, immediately scowling afterwards, she knew the name all too well. The Maros were part of her father's side of the family, and they resented her and Cicero for running away from the family to begin with. So if she ever heard the murmur of the Maro family, she turned her nose up and walked away, but this would be interesting. "What do I need to do to the rat bastard?"

"My, have a conflict with him, do you?" Gabriella chuckles,

"Let's just say my Imperial family was none too pleased with my past decisions," Cinna states,

"I'll take your word for it," Gabriella hums, "But, and this may please you, you are to slay the commander's son, Gaius Maro, and once he is dead, plant false evidence on his body implicating him in a plot to kill the Emperor."

"Kill my hateful cousin and pin him for treachery against his own homeland and family? Eh?" Cinna chuckles darkly, "When can I start?"

"Not when, dear sister, where." Gabriella states, "He is set to leave the Penitus Oculatus outpost at Dragon Bridge, and inspect the security of each city in Skyrim. Go to Dragon bridge, observe his departure, and follow him. Waylay him in one of the cities, and send his soul to Sithis. Once he's dead, plant this incriminating letter on his body," She hands Cinna the letter of which she spoke of, "And let fate take care of the rest," Cinna nods, stashing the letter in her satchel. "Oh, and one final thing,"

"Yes?" Cinna hums as she looks up at the Dunmer,

"To earn your bonus, do not kill Gaius Maro in Dragon Bridge, or on the road." Garbiella states, "Kill him in one of the other major cities he'll be visiting, there, the body will be discovered quickly, as will the letter implication Gaius Maro in the plot to assassinate the Emperor. Do that, and Astrid has authorized me to grant you a rather unique bonus. It is a special token, to be given to Olava the Feeble, in Whiterun."

"Olava?"

"Olava is an old and dear friend, and a powerful seer," Gabrialla explains, "The token entitles you to a reading of your future, it's an oppurtunity one should not pass up."

Cinna nods and takes off, grinning wickedly under her mask at such an oppurtunity given to her as she mounts her horse and takes off. What a way to have a family reunion than through lies, deceit, and bloody murder? Oh, how fun her new Family was!

As she arrives to Dragon Bridge, she pulls off into some brush to the side and changes into her common clothes: a simple red dress, shoes, and a cowl to hide her hair and her mask to hide her face before mounting Cassius again and riding into Dragon Bridge. She immediately notices Gaius and his father conversing in front of the outpost, and decides to take this oppurtunity to slip into the outpost and swipe his schedule, distracting the other guards on post with her...excentuant assests while slipping it into her satchel then slips out without anyone questioning before making her way to the inn and watching as Gaius bid farewell to his father and wife before trekking out into Skyrim. She coyly waves at him as he passes and he nods to her in acknowledgement, unaware of the devious smirk hidden behind her mask, or the cold eyes boring holes into his soul from afar. She then makes her way to Cassius and reads the schedule, discovering he was to be in Whiterun on Trundas. She could make it there by nightfall tonight and wait for him in the Bannered Mare, then confront him before flaying him without mercy. This truly would be her favorite kill so far in her career.

After waiting throughout the next day, she grins wildly when she spots Gaius enter the inn as night fell upon Whiterun once more, watching with sharp eyes as he spoke to the inn keeper and paid for his room and a bit of drink; now was the time as he made his way over to her. She pulled her mask up to conceal her face, her cowl already hiding her hair as he sat down across the table from her, slipping off his helmet to exposed short, dark brown hair.

"Well, what's a pretty woman like yourself doing here by yourself?"

She chuckles at his attempt to flirt and simply glances up at his with firey, green eyes. "You really should watch who you mess around with, especially when you have a wife waiting back at home, Quaestor Maro." She pulls her cowl down and her mask off with a cynical grin, giggling at Gaius's expression. "Or should I call you Gaius, cousin?"

"Cinna," Gaius sighs, almost growling her name as she sipped at her honningbrew mead. "What are you doing up here in Skyrim?"

"I'd ask you the same thing, but I have a feeling your father is behind it." Cinna scoffs, "How long has it been since we last saw each other? Eight years?"

"Nine," Gaius mutters, "I'm surprised you're still alive after giving your parents the slip like that, where the hell did you run off to anyway?"

"Hammerfell," Cinna explains, "Where I learned to become a _real_ warrior, not the pansy of an Imperial guard you and your father turned out to be."

"So you still scorn your own kin with evey breath?" Gaius scoffs; Cinna simply shrugs. "Should've figured you'd never change your ways, you've always been so hard-headed."

"Better than being the slave to such a selfish government," Cinna states, "You best be glad I'm not joining the Imperials or I would slit your throat while you slept in the bed next to me, or I'd just bash your skull in during a battle and say a Stormcloak did it. Either would work,"

"You're joining the Stormcloaks?" Gaius gasps; Cinna nods as she takes a bit from her sweetroll. "You're only making a fool of yourself, Cinna."

"No, _you're_ making a fool of _yourself_," Cinna growls, "You never once considered the thoughts of others, or how your choices would affect them, you didn't even consider what abolishing Talos worship in the country of the Nords would do to a place that was basically built on the beliefs of Talos. That's why you're here, after all, because you made a mistake and it's cost you an entire country's loyalty, and know you're gonna try and fight to get it back. That's typically how the Imperial government works now-a-days, and you're shocked I'm joining the Stormcloaks?" Cinna scoffs, "You're as stupid as your father is,"

"You shut you mouth!" Gaius barks, slamming his fist on the table, catching the attention of the entire inn. "You know nothing of what the Empire does, or why it makes the choices it does. All you do is turn your nose to your own background and choose to walk away from what you know is the winning side, just to be the selfish brat you always were. And you'll never change, you'll always be a brat, just like when we were kids. You'll neve change,"

Cinna grins as Gaius rises from the table with a huff and storms to his room, the doors slamming and causing the inn to become quiet. She then rises, paying the bard to play _Age of Oppression_ in dedication to Gaius Maro of the Penitus Oculatus, and sneaks into his room as the bard begins to play. She slinks to Gaius, who now lay sleeping in bed, humming the tune of the bard under her breath as she slowly approached, eventually reaching the bed as the man turns over. He creaks an eye open, only to soon find his mouth covered, looking into the eyes of his cousin as she held an Elven dagger to his throat.

"Sorry, dear cousin, don't take this personally." Cinna whispers as she presses the blade to his neck, drawing a bit of blood. "But my Family needs you dead in order for us to survive,"

With that, she swiftly slices his neck open, sprinkling blood onto her clothes and face. She quickly cleans her face and changes her clothes, taking the stained ones with her as she slips out of the room, just as the song ends, then quietly exits out the back door without anyone noticing, and makes her way out to Cassius. She dumps the clothes at a Giants' camp, into the large bonfire, and rests for the night under the stars, then quickly heads home the next morning, her head held high from her successful and satisfying kill.

She marches into the Sanctuary, pridefully pulling down her hood and cowl as Gabriella approaches her. "Ah, at last," Gabriella sighs, "I've been anxiously awaiting your return,"

"Gaius Maro is dead," Cinna proudly announces,

"Yes, I know, as does Astrid." Gabriella chuckles, pleased by her Sister's exciting energy. "You have done well, and have earned both your reward, and a bonus, as I may have mentioned." She hands over the coin purse and a blue gem to Cinna, "But you should know that we have a more pressing matter to deal with, since you've been gone."

"What do you mean?" Cinna hums,

"It's...Cicero," Gabriella uneasily explains, "There's been an incident,"

"What?!" Cinna gasps, "What happened? Is he alright? Did anyone get hurt?"

"You should proceed into the Sanctuary," Gabriella states, "I'll let Astrid explain,"


	10. Reunited

-Reunited-

Cinna quickly charges into the Sanctuary, everyone surrounding Veezara, who seemed to be injured by a stab wound to his side. She ducks behind a rocky pillar and listens:

"Just try to relax, Veezara," Babette sighs as she stands, an emptyvial in her hand. "Let the elixir do its work, you'll feel better, shortly."

"Thank you, dear," The Argonian sighs, "You are most kind. The jester's cut feels as bad as it looks, I'm afraid."

"Dammit, this never should have happened!" Astrid growls, "We knew better. We knew better, and still we let our guards down."

"I'll admit, even I'm having a hard time disagreeing with you." Festus states,

Cinna quickly approaches Astrid, who seemed to notice the worry that was as prominent on the Imperial's face as the scars in her cheek, seeing it in her eyes as well.

"Astird," Cinna gasps before the Nord could even speak, "Gabriella said-"

"I know, Maro is dead, but we've got bigger problems right now!" Astrid scoffs,

"Gabriella said something about Cicero," Cinna hums, "What happened?"

"The fool went absolutely berserk!" Astrid explains, "He wounded Veezara, tried to kill me, and then he fled. I knew that lunatic couldn't be trusted,"

"It's true, I'm afraid," Festus adds, "Cicero was a little whirlwind, slashing this way and that. It would have been funny, if he weren't trying to murder us all."

"Don't forget the ranting and raving," Nazir comments, "About the Night Mother, how she was the true leader of the Dark Brotherhood, and Astrid was just a 'pretender'."

"I-I'm sure there's a reasonable explination for all this," Cinna reasons, "I know Cicero, he wouldn't just lose it like that, it's not like him."

"Look, Cinna," Astrid sighs, "I know you and he were good friends, but we got to deal with this situation. _You've_ got to deal with this situation,"

"M-me?" Cinna gasps, "What do you want me to do?"

"I want you to find that miserable little fool," Astrid orders,

"I swear if you say-"

"And end his life,"

Cinna froze, her blood ran cold, time seemed to stop, even the sound around her was enveloped into complete silence. Was she really just ordered to kill her dearest friend? The one she had grown so close to over these past few months? The one she trusted with her life, and he the same to her? But-

"But first...find my husband, and make sure he's all right," Astrid sighs, "After the attack, Arnbjron flew into a rage, and went after Cicero. They disappeared into the wild," Cinna only remains silent as Astrid continues, "Search Cicero's room, maybe there's something in there that sheds some light on where he might have gone. Let me know the minute you find something, I've got to see to Veezara, and calm everyone down."

Cinna nods and turns to leave, but she stops and simply asks, "Why me?"

"What?" Astrid scoffs,

"Why send me?" Cinna asks again, "You know how dear Cicero is to me, so why send me to kill him? How do you even know I _will_?"

"Because, you're my best," Astrid explains, "And because you know him, you'll be able to lull him into false security, then take him down when he's weak. I know you will, to protect the Family, and to remain loyal to those you've given your loyalty freely to. _Don't_ dissapoint me,"

Cinna sighs and treks to Cicero's room, finding his room in much disaray, and begins searching, her heart growing heavy the further the search went on, until she hears someone in the door way of the room as she kneels beside the bed. She looks up and finds it to be Nazir, then looks away shamefully as tears begin to brim.

"I know you don't want to hurt Cicero," Nazir states, crossing the room to Cinna and kneeling on the floor next to her. "You and him were closer than any of us ever would be; you defend one another, even if the other isn't there to say anything, because you know each other so well. While I admit the fool-I mean, Cicero is crazy, he would never attack unprovoked. Like you said, it isn't like him," Cinna sniffles and looks back at Nazir, quietly sobbing as the Redguard wipes a stray tear from her cheek. "But the least you can do is go and listen to his side of the story, figure out exactly what happened, and judge for yourself. If you do let him live, then what you two do after that will be up to you, and no one here will hear a word of it. But if you need someone to listen to any grievences, I'm always here, no matter what your decision is. And it will only be between you and me, alright?" Cinna nods and hugs the Redguard, who returns the embrace then helps the smaller Imperial to her feet. "Have you found anything yet on where he may have gone?"

Cinna shakes her head, "No," She murmurs, then glances up at the journals sitting on the table. "Maybe in one of his journals," She approaches the table and picks up the first journal, opening it up to find a strangely familiar envelope hidden in the book.

"That must be the letter Babette told me about before," Nazir comments as Cinna pulls the envelope out, carefully tracing her thumb over the aged wax seal with the emblem of Hammerfell on it. "It was sent from Hammerfell, but from who?"

Cinna quietly pulls the letter out and opens it, her breath hitching as she recognizes the handwriting of the letter: it was hers. She goes on to read the letter, with Nazir reading it over her shoulder, slowly unraveling the page long letter that was so familiar to her.

"I-I can't believe it," She whispers, trembling so greatly that she forces herself to sit on the bed, staring at the letter in her hand. "This can't be...it couldn't be..."

"What is it?" Nazir asks, sitting on the bed beside the Imperial.

"I-I recognize this letter," Cinna states,

"You do?" Nazir hums, "Do you know who sent it?"

Cinna nods, shakily folding out the bottom part of the letter, revealing a single signature written as it had been for nearly six years since this one was written. "Me,"

"You? But how?" Nazir inquires,

"I spent the last six years in Hammerfell, after I ran away from home with the help of my older brother." Cinna explains, "I went there to train to become a warrior, sold my arm as a sellsword, and joined the Fighter's Guild down there. I was one of the best, despite being one of the youngest, and an outsider."

"Alright, but what about this letter?"

"My brother and I promised to send only one letter to one another," Cinna sighs, "I sent mine when I was in Elinhir, letting him know I was alright, that I found work and a home, that I had my own life now, that I was pursuing my dreams. He responded a weeks later, saying he was glad I was alright and still alive, and that his dreams were coming true as well. He had gotten into the Brotherhood down in Cheydinhal, and he was looking forward to a successful career as an assassin, and hoped to see me again in the future, when both of us were living happily in our own lives. I waited for his second letter...but it never came."

"Odd," Nazir hums, "Then how did Cicero get a hold of it?"

Cinna sat there silently as Nazir looked over the letter she hands him in his own hands, then glances up at the journal and approaches it, opening to the first written page and reading over the passage, surprised to find the handwriting to be so similar: it was her brother's handwriting. She looked at the date of the second entry, which noted gaining entry into the Cheydinhal Brotherhood...it was the day before her brother sent her his letter. Everything seemed to line up, and she soon found herself reading all four volumes of the aged books, reading of Cicero's slow descent into madness because of all the turmoil he had been through. The realization then came to her, as she closed the fourth volume.

"It's him,"

Nazir looks up at her with a questionable hum, "What do you mean, Cinna?"

"All this time, when I should've known it, I was completely blind to it." Cinna murmurs, more to herself but loud enough so Nazir could hear. "When we met on that road, I knew he was familiar. The thought crossed my mind, but I carelessly threw the assumption away, I didn't think it was possible, I didn't think it was actually him." Her body began to tremble as she continued, "All those times we spoke and laughed, all those times he'd listen to me and let me cry on his shoulder, all those moments we shared, and I never realized it?!" She slams her fists down on the table, which creaked eeriely under the weight of her fists, hot tears now beginning to pour down her face and stain the wooden table under her.

"Cinna?" Nazir rises from the bed and hurries to Cinna's side, "What is it? What's wrong?" Cinna slowly looks up at Nazir, tears staining her now ghost pale cheeks. "Please, Cinna, tell me what's wrong." The Redguard begs,

"Cicero," She whispers hoarsely, "H-he's my...brother, the one I thought I left in Cyrodil."

"Wait, you mean he's-"

Cinna nods, biting her lip to quiet the sobs threatening to bellow throughout the Sanctuary, but are instead muffled as the Redguard beside her pulls her into an embrace, the sobs becoming nothing more than convulsing vibrations against his chest. The two remain like that for what seemed to be hours until Cinna pulls away, looking up at Nazir, her eyes still glazed with tears. She then notices final journal on the end table beside the bed and carefully gets up, retrieving the book and quickly reading through it.

"Dawnstar," She sighs, closing the journal and stowing it away with the rest of the journals in her satchel. "He's gone to hide out in the Dawnstar Sanctuary,"

"Go inform Astrid then," Nazir advises; Cinna nods and walks past Nazir, but is grabbed by her hand and suddenly pulled back into an embrace, causing her to flush faintly. "But be careful,"

Cinna nods again and is released, allowing her to walk away and inform Astrid of Cicero's location, concealing her face with her mask and cowl as Astrid spoke.

"The Dawnstar Sanctuary? Whatever for?" Astrid hums curiously, Cinna simply shrugs. "Well, it doesn't matter, you need to go, now. Every moment counts, so take my horse instead. His name is Shadowmere, you'll find him outside, by the pool." Cinna gives her a curious look, she had left Cassius there many times, and had not seen this Shadowmere. "Let's just say he's...one of us. Find Arnbjorn, make sure my husband's all right." She orders, "And then, send that jester's twisted little soul to the Void, in as many pieces as possible."

Cinna nods and makes her way outside to the pool, Cassius immediately trotting up to her.

"Sorry, boy," She murmurs, petting the black horse's neck. "But I need a faster horse this time, and you need a break from our cross-country ventures. Astrid's giving me her horse for this one, so you rest up for now, and be ready if anyone needs you for an emergency."

She approaches the black pool, and notices it's bubbling, she then hears the clatter of hooves, as if a horse were charging right at her. She's surprised when a pitch black horse charges from the pool, its eyes glowing a bright, demonic red. The horse circles around a few times then approaches her and nudges her shoulder with a heated huff from its snout. Cinna nods and climbs onto the horse, then takes off for Dawnstar.

_/Don't worry, Cicero, I'm coming!/_

She arrives at Dawnstar just as night began to fall, making her way through the town to the distant shore, where she finds an injured Arnbjorn. She climbs off Shadowmere then rushes over to the Nord to assist him,

"Should have figured Astrid would send you," Arnbjorn mutters,

"You're hurt," Cinna sighs, "Pretty bad by the looks of it,"

"What gave it away?" Arnbjorn grunts with a chuckle, "Yeah, got to admit that little jester is good with that butter knife. But don't worry, I gave as good as I got."

Cinna bites her lips nervously, wondering if Cicero was still alright, and if he could still be saved. "Where is he?" She hesitantly asks,

"In there, through the door," Arnbrjon huffs, gesturing to the door behind him. "Some old Sanctuary by the looks of it. I would have followed him, but I don't know the phrase."

"I'll get Cicero," Cinna sighs, "You best get home, Astrid's worried about you."

"All right, you convinced me," Arnbjorn grunts as he stands, still holding the wound on his side. "Doubt I'd be much good to you, anyway. The little fop cut me pretty deep," Cinna begins to try and heal him as he continues, "But I slashed him good, pretty sure I severed an artery. Don't know what you're going to find in there, but you can probably just follow the blood." Cinna nods and backs away, "Be careful in there," He warns before heading off,

With that, Cinna sighs and approaches the door, afraid herself of whether she'd find her dear brother inside...or his drained corpse. She touches the door,

"_What is life's greatest illusion?_"

"Innocence, my brother,"

"_Welcome home,_"

Cinna takes a breath then enters the Sanctuary, slowly making her way down the staircase before a voice suddenly frightens her, nearly sending her toppling down the remaining stairs.

"Listener! Is that you?"

"Cicero?"

"Oh, I knew you'd come! Send the best to defeat the best," Cicero groans in pain before continuing, "Astrid knew her stupid wolf couldn't slay sly Cicero,"

_/He seems distraught, I need to find him and settle him down, at least enough to get him to tell me what happened while I was gone. He has to have his reasons for his actions before./_

Cinna slowly makes her way into the next room, finding a ghostly guardian patroling the halls. She sneaks up behind him and quickly slits his transparent throat, letting the ghostly form dissovle into ectoplasm at her feet.

"Oh, but this isn't at all what Mother would want," Cicero bellows, "You kill the Keeper, or I kill the Listener? Now that's madness!"

Cinna silently sighs and makes her way down the only unobscurbed passageway, cautious of the spike traps on a bridge before her. She barely dodges one of them as it nearly rips her side out, then rolls under another one as Cicero's voice echoes again.

"Ouch! Pointy pointy! My home is well defended. I always have been a stickler for details. Get it? 'Stick-ler'." Cinna quietly chuckles to herself as Cicero's laughter bellows against stone walls, this was definately her fool, making jokes even as he lay dying. "Oh, I slay me!"

She continues into the next room, triggering a fire trap and barely escaping without a burn, then taking out two ghostly guardians as well with her bow. She quietly continues along as Cicero's voice echoes once more through the corridors,

"You're still alive," Cicero scoffs, "Cicero respects the Listener's abilities, of course, but could you at least slow down a bit?" He grunts painfully, "I'm not what I used to be,"

Cinna takes out two more spectors before continuing through a shattered stain glass window and into a snowy tundra cave, feeling the chill hit her core as Cicero's voice rises again.

"Brr! Chilly!" Cicero comments, painfully groaning before continuing, no doubt the cold was working against his bleeding wounds. "You'll enjoy this, not an original part of the Sanctuary, per se. Let's call is a 'forced addition'. Forced by what? Oh, come and see!"

Cinna hesitantly proceeds forward, after setting off some bear traps, and spots a Frost Troll ahead of her. She pulls out her bow and fires several arrow, landing several hits and dropping the troll in the process before pressing forward. She begins to ponder to herself why Cicero went though all this nonsense to begin with, and is fearfully answered.

"All right, so Cicero attacked that harlot, Astrid!" Cicero confesses with a painful grunt, "But what's a fool to do, when his mother is slandered and mocked?"

_/So Astrid envoked the attack on herself? Should've known she would never say anything about it, the bitch. She knows how important the Night Mother is to Cicero, and she went and slandered her in front of Cicero, of all people? Was she begging to be gutted like the pig she was? Next time I get a moment alone with her, we're going to have a serious talk./_

Cicero grunts painfully again, "Surely the Listener understands!"

Cinna quickly makes her way through the remainder of the icy tundra and through a blocked passageway, knowing those sounds meant Cicero didn't have much longer to live, she had to hurry if she were able to make any choice at all. She quickly takes care of two more guardians and quickly moves along as Cicero's voice rises again,

"Cicero admits, he thought the Listener would be dead by now." He painfully states, his voice sounding to become weak, pushing Cinna to hurry along. "Maybe we could just forget all this? Hmm? Let bygones be bygones? What do you say?"

Cinna quickly breezes through another guardian and pushes on up the staircase to another blocked passageway as Cicero speaks up again.

"If it's any comfort, I do feel slightly bad about Veezara." Cicero confesses, his voice now beginning to sound as if he were slipping to insanity. "Stupid lizard got in me way! But please tell me that hulking sheepdog bled to death!"

She slowly approaches the door, leaning against it as Cicero's voice clearly echoes from behind the door.

"Now we come to the end of our play! The grand finale!"

Cinna shakily sighs and pushes the door open, finding Cicero lying on the opposite side of the room, a horrible gash in his side that was bleeding profusely, causing the puddle beneath him to quickly grow bigger and bigger.

"Cicero," Cinna gasps,

Cicero coughs as he looks up at Cinna, "You caught me! I surrender!" He states in his weakening voice with an equally weak and dry laughter.

Cinna can only remain silent, glancing at the dagger on her waist and back at Cicero. He had willing admited he attacked Astrid, but with good reasoning as to preserve the respect for the Night Mother. But he was also her brother, and she couldn't bear the thought of losing him, much less by her own hand. What was she to do?

"Oh, you prefer to listen, eh?" Cicero hums, "Of course, of course! The Listener listens! A joke! A funny joke! I get it!" His cackle quickly turns to a ragged cough,

"Cicero, I-"

"Make your choice, Listener." Cicero murmurs, "Kill me, or leave me to wallow, but make it quick before time makes it for you."

Cinna bites her lip, grabbing the dagger at her waist and raises to strike, but she hesitates, she tries again but is still unable to lunge at him.

"Go on, do it," Cicero groans, "If you're going to end my life, make it quick."

Cinna tries once more, but only steps back, dropping her dagger as she turns away. "I can't," She whimpers, "I can't do this, as guilty as you are, I could never bring harm to you. I refuse!" She throws her hood off, allowing her bright auburn hair to cascade down her back, choking out sobs and whimpers as she stood there. "I could never do that to you, Cero."

Cicero weakly lifts his head at the mention of the name, "C-Cero?" He croaks, followed by a weak chuckle. "Why, no one has called me that in years. Only one person has ever calld me by that name, and sh-" He stops himself, glancing up at Cinna, and suddenly realizing something he had long been denying himself. "I-it couldn't be..."

Cinna slowly turns, brushing back her hair to reveal a very familiar face that now had tears streaming down it, smudging her black war paint as light green looked into amber, her lips twisting into a sad smile. "It is...dear brother..." She rushes to her weak brother, gathering him in her arms. "I'm glad that you finally remember, after all this time,"

Cicero weakly chuckles and hugs the other, "Cinna...my dear little sister," He murmurs, "After all this time, it really is you...Gods how you blossomed," Cinna pulls away and begins to heal Cicero's wound with her magic, "But how did you know-"

"I thought it was you when we first met," Cinna admits, "But I also thought you were still in Cyrodil, so I tried to make myself believe it was just coincidence. Then over time, after we met again in the Sanctuary, as we slowly became closer, I wanted to believe that it was you, but I still wanted to believe you were safe back at home."

"Then how did you find out?" Cicero asks,

"Astrid had me search your room," Cinna explains, "And with Nazir's help, we found your first journal...and the letter," She looks up at him as tears leaked out, "That's when I knew it was you, even more when I read through your journals. How you mentioned me and our childhood so many times, and how you still remembered...up until you became the Keeper." She sobs but recollects herself quickly, "I was afraid you didn't remember me, that after so many years of you being kept in isolated silence, when I thought you were perfectly fine, you forgotten everything. I came here, hoping you would remember, hoping I still had my brother...hoping I hadn't lost him to the madness that was the jester inside his head."

"Cinna,"

Cinna completely breaks down, soon being comforted by Cicero's embrace as her sobs echoed through the empty Sanctuary. It takes nearly an hour for him to settle Cinna down,

"Oh Cinna, dear little sister, I'm sorry I fretted you so. I would never have allowed it had I known it was you, never in my life would I worry you so." Cinna looks up, finding a pair of familiar amber eyes looking back at her. "I wished that one of us had said something sooner,"

"So do I," Cinna sighs with a sniffle, "But at the same time, I'm glad we never spoke, or else Astrid may have sent someone else to be rid of you."

"But doesn't Nazir know?" Cicero inquires, "Since he saw the letter too?"

"He does," She admits, but then sadly smiles. "But he promised to keep it between the two of us, and I trust that he will. Besides you, he's one of my best friends in the Family."

"Well, if your trust him, Cinna, then so do I."

Cinna weakly chuckles as her elder brother plants a kiss on her temple, then glances down and carefully picks up his fallen hat, now slightly stained with blood.

"What do you plan to do with that?" Cicero hums,

"Take it to Astrid," Cinna explains, "And tell her it's from your corpse," The two exchange smiles as Cicero stands and helps Cinna to her feet, then the two exchange embraces. "It's good to finally have you back, big brother."

"It's good to have you back too, my little poet." Cicero hums, "But you best get back, before they send someone to come retrieve your body."

Cinna chuckles and takes out her handmade mask from her satchel, "Here," She sighs, placing the handmade mask in the other's hand and closing it around the cotton-stuffed cloth. "This way, you can always have me close in the darkness, until I can sort out this Astrid issue."

"And how might you go about that?" Cicero inquires,

She glances up at him with a michevious glow in her eyes, "You didn't call me the best for nothing, did you?" She purrs with a sadistic grin,

"True," Cicero chuckles, "But, be safe, and don't take Astrid for a fool so easily."

"Don't worry," Cinna hums, "She already believes I'm a fool, so she's made herself the fool already, to the sister of the Fool of Hearts."

Cicero snickers then embraces Cinna, "Best of luck to you then,"

"And to you as well,"


	11. Cooking Up Trouble

-Cooking Up Trouble-

Cinna sighs heavily as she enters the Sanctuary, making her way down the steps and toward the Nord, standing over her table as usual. Astrid glances over her shoulder, smiling sincerely as Cinna approaches.

"Arnbjorn is safe, and for that you have my thanks." Astrid states, turning to the Imperial. "But what of the fool? Is Cicero dead?"

"He is."

"Do you have any proof of such?" Cinna pulls out the hat and hands it to Astrid, who examines it carefully in her hands. "Yes, this is certainly Cicero's cap. Excellent." She sighs, handing back the cap as she continues, "Once again, you've proven yourself a born assassin. And as reward, I'll let you hold on to Shadowmere for a bit longer. He's a fine steed, and hasn't been riden nearly as much lately."

"Thank you for the offer, but I might just stick with Cassius." Cinna explains. "He's been more loyal to me than anything else, I could never replace him, even with such a fine stallion like Shadowmere."

"I understand." Astrid hums. "And he's open for your use whenever you need him. But now that this Cicero mess has been mopped up, we can get back to the matter at hand, hmm?"

"Right, my contract." Cinna sighs. "So, who's next to meet my blade?"

"You have only one more target before we go for the Emperor." Astrid explains, "Have you by chance heard of the _Gourmet_? Read his cookbook? It's become quite a phenomenon."

"Yeah, I think I've heard of him once or twice before. Why?" Cinna asks.

"The Gourmet is scheduled to cook for the Emperor at a special dinner." Astrid elaborates. "You'll kill him, steal his Writ of Passage, and assume the roll of master chef." Cinna cocks a curious brow as Astrid continues. "Festus has been spearheading this part of the assassination plan. He's close to uncovering the identify of the Gourmet. Report to him for your next task."

Cinna nods and walks away, making her way into the Sanctuary, but she's suddenly pulled to the side from behind and forcibly guided into the Night Mother's chambers. She turns as the doors, are shut, finding it to be Nazir who had grabbed her.

"Nazir, don't scare me like that." Cinna huffs, pulling down her hood.

"Sorry, but I wanted to speak with you without the others around." Nazir states, turning to the Imperial. "I didn't mean to hurt you if I did."

"I'm fine, you only startled me." Cinna sighs. "But I assume you wish to know about Cicero."

"Well, I overheard you talking to Astrid, but I wanted to know myself: Is what you said to Astrid the truth?" Nazir asks. "Did you _really _kill Cicero?"

Cinna scoffs and shakes her head. "Of course not, he's my dear brother, and we both know that now." She walks over to one of the stone benches nearby and takes a seat, pulling out Cicero's hat. "He's hiding out in the Dawnstar Sanctuary for now, until I can take care of all this, even if it means taking..._drastic_ measures."

"You mean...you can't be serious," Nazir gasps, walking over to the Imperial. "Cinna, it's treason, it would turn the entire Brotherhood against you."

"I don't care at this point, Nazir." Cinna growls. "Astrid brought that upon herself, _she_ insulted the Night Mother in front of Cicero, and all anyone else ever saw was his ranting and attack, they never asked what really happened, as if Astrid would've told the truth." Cinna wrings the hat in her hands, her temper slowly rising. "My brother was justified by his actions, he was _protecting_ the Night Mother because it was his duty and was nearly killed because of it, and has been shunned by his dear Brother and Sisters because our _noble leader_ wouldn't dare speak of the actions that justified Cicero's behavior. She's no leader, she's a _snake_!" Her gaze shifts towards Nazir, her eyes being the coldest and darkest they had ever been. "I can't forgive her for this, Nazir, I _won't_. You understand that. And until that bitch can come clean about it, I'll make it my personal mission to _see her fall_."

Silence falls upon the room, the weight of the entire situation coming down on the Redguard. Though he was forever loyal to Astrid, he knew Cinna was justified by reason for her rage and contempt toward the Nord woman, but could he really allow Cinna's potential treason to slip by without a word? Could he really put such a close friend at risk for the sake of another? A battle between the loyalty to his family for many years, or the closest friendship he's had in months, which seemed right at this point? He sighs heavily as he sits down beside Cinna, who simply shifted her gaze back to the cap in her hands.

"I know how loyal you are to Astrid, Nazir, but I-"

"I know." Nazir sighs. "This is something you need to do, to restore Cicero's honor and clear up this web of deceit Astrid has made. Putting the Family in danger is never something I wish to lean toward, nor the destruction of the Brotherhood." Cinna sighs and moves to stand, but is stopped by a hand on her shoulder. "But I'm not letting you do this alone." Cinna was shocked, looking back toward the Redguard, eyes wide in surprise as she slowly sits back down. "Astrid may be my leader, but I won't follow a leader who lies to her own people. She's a sly woman, so you'll need inside ears if you plan to do anything to her." Cinna nods and glances away, looking back when the Redguard lays his hand on her own. "But you need to complete this contract first, so Astrid won't have you reporting to her anymore for a while, then the two of us will head to Dawnstar and meet up with Cicero. We'll begin the planning from there, so no one will know but the three of us."

Cinna sadly smiles, embracing the Redguard with a sigh. "Thank you, Nazir. I knew I wasn't foolish when I put my trust in you before."

"You can always trust me." Nazir states, returning the embrace. "I'd never lie to you, Cinna."

Cinna chuckles and pulls away before standing. "Well, I better get going then, I have a cook to slash before the end of all this. Just one more kill."

"Then you best move along then, we'll speak the next time you return."

Cinna nods and makes her way out of the chambers, glancing at Nazir and flashing a grin before exiting the room. After looking around for a bit, she finds Festus working at the alchemy table, seeming to be busy brewing up a posion made from void salts, nightshade, and what appeared to be nirnroot.

"Ah, there you are." Festus sighs, turning to the Imperial. "Took your time with Cicero, did you?" Cinna simply shrugs. "Well, let's get down to business. I'm sure Astrid told you about your next target, the Gourmet?"

"She mentioned it before telling me to report to you." Cinna explains. "Said something about me killing them and taking their place at the Emperor's special dinner."

"Quite so, but first you'll need to learn who he is, assuming that the Gourmet actually is a _he_." Festus states. "Could be a woman for all we know."

"Do you have any idea how I might find that out?" Cinna inquires.

"Ah, indeed I do! Indeed I do!" Festus hums. "In my, um, _investigations_, I came upon this." The elder Breton hands Cinna a large blue book with slight signs of blood splatter on it, the pages somewhat worn from use as she examined the leather bound stack of paper in her hands. "It's a copy of the Gourmet's cookbook."

"Okay, but what so special about it?" Cinna asks.

"Ah, always assuming there's a catch, smart girl." Festus chuckles. "You see, that book isn't just any copy, it's signed you see." Cinna cracks the book open, finding the written message on the inside of the cover. "Seems to be a message from the Gourmet to one Anton Virane. I've tracked Virane to the keep in Markarth, he's the cook for the Jarl there."

"You think this man knows the Gourmet's true identity?"

"I believe so." Festus states. "Therefore, you are to obtain that information _from_ Virane: who the Gourmet _really_ is, and _where_ he can be found." Cinna nods, continuing to look through the book. "Oh, and when you're done with Virane, kill him. Loose ends and all that. Next you'll have to-" Festus notices the Imperial's lack of attention and taps her on the head with the pestel in his hand, causing the Imperial to flinch and yelp in surprise as she drops the book. "Are you still paying attention?"

"Of course, Festus." Cinna sighs, retrieving the book and storing it in her bag. "Please continue."

"As I was saying, you'll need to kill the Gourmet, of course. But what's more, you'll need to get his Writ of Passage, so you can take his place." Cinna nods and pulls her hood up then turns to leave. "Oh, and if you can, hide his body." Cinna glances over her shoulder, giving the Breton a curious look. "The longer it takes for anyone else to determine his real identity, the better." Cinna nods. "Now off with you!"

Cinna quickly takes off out of the Sanctuary, mounting Cassius, who was anxiously waiting outside with Shadowmere, then taking off north towards Markarth. As she enters the Dwarven ruin of a city, she quickly makes her way to the keep as the sun began to set, giving her the perfect cover to slip in and locate the kitchen. As soon as she was sure the kitchen was empty of anyone else, she quietly slips in and shuts the doors before approaching the chef, who stood over the cooking fire, seeming oblivious to his surroundings.

"Whoever you are, I'm quite busy preparing the Jarl's dinner, so if you wouldn't mind-" Anton turns, finding Cinna standing behind him, most of her face obscured by her hood and mask aside from her daunting green eyes that seemed to gaze through him. "W-who are you? What do you want? And what are you doing in _my_ kitchen?"

"The Gourmet." Cinna sighs, "Who is he, and where is he?"

"The...the Gourmet?" Anton nervously stutters. "Never! I don't know what led you here, but nothing will betray my trust. I'll take the secret of the Gourmet's identity to my grave."

"For the Dark Brotherhood, that can be easily arranged." Cinna chuckles darkly.

"The Dark Brotherhood?" Anton gasps. "Now, now wait a minute. Let's not get hasty. I mean, surely my friend wouldn't want me to endanger my own life, right?"

"Then start talking, and make it quick. My blade hand is getting antsy."

"His name is Balagog gro-Nolob." Anton explains, causing Cinna to cock the most surprising of brows. "He's an Orc, the Gourmet's an Orc, and he's staying at the Nightgate Inn, but that's all I know, I swear. Now...you'll let me go. Right?"

"Of course, Anton." Cinna gleefully states. "Thank you for your hospitality."

"All right." Anton sighs in relief. "Wonderful, you're welcome! Now, I must finish this dinner for the Jarl, if you'll excuse me."

Cinna nods as Anton turns back to the cooking pit, then quietly creeps up behind him, pulling out her newly sharpened Elven dagger. She grabs Anton from behind and slits his throat before throwing his body into the fire, making it look like a complete accident. She cleans off her blade with a nearby cloth then tosses it into the fire before slipping out of the kitchen, casually continuing out of the keep, glancing toward the sky and noticing a storm rolling in.

"I best hurry along." Cinna sighs as she makes her way to the gates. "The last thing I need is a storm delayinging my contract."

After fighting through several waves of blinding snow and bone-chilling winds, Cinna finally reaches Nightgate Inn. Climbing off Cassius and quickly making her way inside, she shakes the snow out of her bear fur shoulder wrap then looks around the room.

"Mighty chilly out there, isn't it?" The inn keep hums from across the room. "Need a bed for the night, or as you going to try and face the storm?" He jokes.

"I'll take up on that room you're offering." Cinna chuckles, walking over to the inn keeper and handing him ten septims for the room. "But I also have a question to ask, about someone possibly staying here for the night."

"Well, I've had some people pass through because of the storm and climate." The inn keep states. "Looking for a friend who may have passed through?"

"Actually, I heard he may be staying here." Cinna explains. "An Orc by the name of Balagog?"

"Ah, yes!" The inn keep sighs. "He's renting out a room in the cellar, paid a month in advance, didn't answer too many questions. Why? Are you a friend of his?"

"Yes, actually." Cinna chuckles, pulling out the now clean, signed cook book from her bag. "I borrowed this from him a while back, and I was looking to return it to him. He said he would be staying here if I ever wished to return it to him this month."

"Alright, head down there then, but be careful. It's a bit of a mess."

Cinna nods, putting the book away as he climbs down into the cellar, pulling her mask over her face as she closes the door behind her then quietly approaches the room, peeking inside to find him asleep in his bed. She pulls out her dagger and creeps towards the bed, only to accidently hit her boot against the bed post. The Orc stirs and turns over, spotting Cinna at his bedside. She hops on top of the Orc, clamping one hand over his mouth while the other hand held the dagger to his throat and slits it without a second thought. She quickly loots the body of any small goods then wraps the body up and hides the body behind a pile of hay nearby. She climbs back up into the inn and heads to her room to turn in for the night, with two fresh bottles of ale in hand as well.

She wakes early the next day, finding the storm had passed and discovering her head pounded painfully from her drinks the other night. She drags herself from the inn and climbs onto Cassius, who had seeked shelter under some trees for the night, and the two take off back to Falkreath. The two make a small stop at Whiterun to pick up some supplies in the city's general goods shop, but Cinna manages to run into a familiar Bosmer on her way back to the gates, grinning widely when she recognizes the clan symbol on the elf's mounted quiver.

"Ibgirn!" Cinna calls out, approaching the elf as he finishes business with the blacksmith.

"Cinna." The Bosmer chuckles, turning to the Imperial as she approached. "And how's my fellow Shield-Sister been? I haven't seen you in months."

"Sorry, I've been busy with quite a few things." Cinna sighs. "But I'm glad to have run into you, how has Jorrvaskr been since I was last there?"

"Better, I suppose." Ibgirn states, "Farkas has been bugging me about you, asking me if i knew where his favorite sparring partner has disappeared to."

"Aw, poor Farkas." Cinna chuckles. "Guess I should really visit more often."

"Well, why not visit now, since you're in the city?" Ibgirn suggests.

"I would, but I have something important to take care of and I'm only just finishing it up." Cinna explains. "If I put it off for much longer, I'm not sure if it'll turn out right."

"Of course." Ibgirn sighs. "I'll go and let Farkas know that you're alright, but you stop by and visit next time you're near Whiterun, or I'll come and hunt you down myself."

"We'll see about that." Cinna chuckles, ruffling the Bosmer's hair. "But once this all is said and done, I'll see about stopping by for that visit."

"Then you best move along." Ibgirn teases. "The sooner you leave, the sooner your might return to Jorrvaskr as well."

"We'll see." Cinna states then takes off from the gates. "So long, Ibgirn!"

The Bosmer chuckles, shaking his head before turning and continuing on into the city. "Gods, that girl surely has changed, but at least she seems happy."

...

Cinna and Cassius arrive at the Sanctuary, Cinna quickly making her way into the Sanctuary and seekng out Festus, who was busy studying a scroll in the kitchen area. She approaches and peeks over his shoulder at the scroll.

"A fire storm scroll." Cinna chuckles, slightly spooking the mage. "Be careful with that, I tried to use one once and I almost burnt myself to a crisp."

Festus chuckles a bit as he rolls up the scroll, then sighs and turns to the Imperial. "So our sneaky lil' murderer returns, and in one piece. But what of the Gourmet?"

"Dead by slitting of throat." Cinna states as she takes a seat. "As per my usual killing style."

"So I gathered." Festus sighs. "It seems a certain Orc has disappeared. Which means you not only killed the Gourmet, but disposed of the body as well."

"And let's not forget this." Cinna pulls out the Writ of Passage to show Festus.

"The Writ of Passage. Splendid, splendid. Ah! And word came in from Markarth: The keep's cook met an untimely demise with his fire pit." Festus states pleasingly. "You preformed your duties to the letter, and threw in some creativity as well."

"You would expect any less from me at this point?" Cinna chuckles.

Festus hums pleasently. "I was wrong about you, child, I see that now. Maybe we all were." Festus hand over a coin purse and what appeared to be an enchanted ring. "Here's your payment, and...a little something else, from me. Consider it my way of apologizing, for being so damned curmudgeonly earlier." Cinna puts away the coin purse and examines the ring closer. "It's called the Nightweaver's Band, I've worn it for years, and I want you to have it now. It'll give your magic and sneakiness some much needed _oomph_." Cinna slips the band on, admiring it as Festus chuckles. "I know you aren't one to use magic that much, but I'm sure you'll find a use for it at some point in your life."

"Thanks, Festus." Cinna hums. "For everything."

"Now you'd better get a move on and see Astrid. It's time!" Festus states. "Time for the final stage of this grand and glorious operation. Don't let us down, Cinna."

Cinna nods and rises from her set, making her way through the Sanctuary, but stopping at the steps, glancing up the stairway before her. This would be it, the final part of the biggest contract in Brotherhood history, and hopefully all would go as planned.


	12. Misplaced Trust

-Misplaced Trust-

"So it's done. You've killed the Gourmet." Astrid sighs pleasently as the Imperial climbs the stairs towards her. "And now Titus Mede II is as good as dead."

"So it's time?" Cinna asks, eagerness hinted in her tone. "We're ready to finsh this contract?"

"Oh yes." Astrid confirms. "And you, of course, will have the honor. As one of the best n the family, and after all you've been through, you deserve it."

"Al-right." Cinna sighs nervously, wondering why the Nord woman suddenly seemed so unexpectedly kind. "I certainly don't want to screw up then."

"Don't worry, I have the utmost faith in your success, believe me." Astrid states, patting Cinna on the should. "So let's begin. Go now to Castle Dour in Solitude, and present the Gourmet's Writ of Passage to the officer in charge, Commander Maro. I'm sure you know him."

"Too bad I didn't get to slit his throat as well." Cinna sourly mutters.

"You'll get your chance." Astrid reassures. "But first, you must take care of the Emperor." Cinna sighs heavily and allows Astrid to continue. "You'll gain access to the kitchens, and then the Emperor. You're posing as a chef, so you'll be able to poison his meal rather easily."

"Poison?" Cinna gasps. "Which poison should I use? I have dozens."

"You need not waste your personal inventory. Take this." Astrid says, handing Cinna a strange, thorny root. "It's called Jarrin Root." Cinna examines the root closely as Astrid continues. "All it takes s one taste, and the effects are quite immediate. The Emperor will be serving Sithis before even he knows he's dead." Cinna nods and stashes the root with the rest of her ingrediants, knowing what to look for when she wanted to deal with the Nord later on. "Once Mede has been killed, escape through the upper door, and across the bridge. I've _arranged_ for it to be unguarded once the alarm is sounded." Cinna nods, pulling her hood up and slipping her mask on. "Now go, my friend. Go and fulfill your destiny as Listener."

Cinna makes her way out of the Sanctuary, pondering whether she had heard the Nord hiss her title or if it was simply in her head. But none of that mattered now, this was the end of it all and she had to trust the Nord's words, even if her behavior seemed off, it was the only way to ensure that the contract be complete at last. But this kill wouldn't be for Astrid, the family, or even the Night Mother...it would be for dear Cicero.

After changing her clothes in the brush, Cinna approaches the gates of Solitude, covering her face as she enters the gates then makes her way to the Castle, spotting her uncle very easily in the distance. She slowly approaches the Imperial man, chuckling uner her breath when she finds the man to be much shorter than she was, even shorted than Cicero even.

"Stop right there." Maro orders. "The tower is off limits until further notice."

"Well." Cinna coyly sighs, slipping the Writ from her pocket. "Then I suppose the dinner has been cancelled for tonight? What a shame."

"What's this now?" Maro inquires as Cinna hands over the paper, allowing him to look over it as he mumbles. "...order of his eminence...possessor of these papers...the _Gourmet_... By Azura. The Gourmet!"

"In the flesh." Cinna chirps with a bow.

"I...I'm sorry! I didn't realize!" Maro explains, Cinna smirking under her mask at the man's stammering. "We...we had no idea who to expect, you understand." Cinna nods. "You're not dressed as I would have suspected."

"Well, I tend not to walk around in my cooking attire." Cinna jokes. "Ruins the mystery in it all, you know. And that's half the fun in it all."

"Very true." Maro chuckles. "But please, don't let me keep you. Proceed to the kitchens straight away. Gianna, the castle chef, has been eagerly awaiting your arrival."

"Thank you, Commander." Cinna sighs, proceeding past the Imperial and into the castle.

She carefully makes her way to the kitchen, finding the Imperial chef cooking at the fire pit. The woman glances up from the pot and half-heartedly sighs.

"Not another delivery." She gripes. "I told you, our stocks are fine. Now put whatever you have over there, then get out!"

"I believe you misunderstand, ma'am." Cinna chuckles, removing her mask as she continues.. "I'm no mere courier, I am the Gourmet."

"The Gourmet?" Gianna gasps. "Oh! Finally! When I heard the Gourmet was being brought to cook for the Emperor, I could barely believe it. It's just..."

"Just what?" Cinna inquires.

"Well, I don't mean to be dissappointed." Ginna sighs. "But...I just never figured the Gourmet was an Imperial. I had dreamed of something more exotic, maybe-"

"Don't judge so easily, Ginna." Cinna chuckles. "I might be Imperial, but I know a thing or two about exotic dishes. I did spend some time in Hammerfell."

"Hammerfell?" Ginna gasps. "Amazing. Is that where you learned to cook?"

"It's where I started anyway." Cinna states. "But enough conversation for now. i'm ready to prepare the grand feast!"

"Oh. Well, um, actually...you're not." Ginna corrects, recieving a confused glance from the Imperial across from her. "Not...wearing a chef's hat, I mean. There's one right over there on the shelf. You can't very well cook without it."

"Right." Cinna sighs, going to retrieve the hat and slip off her fur shrug. "Am I ready now?"

"Oh, just look at you. Absolutely brilliant." Ginna comments. "Now...now you're just as I imagined."

"Alright, enough dilly dallying." Cinna sighs as she tucks some loose strands of red bangs underneath the hat. "Let us begin!"

"Oh! Yes, but of course." Ginna murmurs sheepishly. "The Emperor has requested your signature dish: the Potage le Magnifique. I've taken the liberty of getting it started. But the cookbook only says so much, and everyone makes the Potage differenlt. I would be honored f we could make it...the Gourmet's special way." Gianna explains as she pulls out a variety of ingrediants to add to the boiling pot between the two. "The base broth is already boiled. We can get started right now. So...which ingredient should I add first?"

Cinna anxiously looks over the ingredients, trying to keep her cool as she plucks a random ingredient from the variety. "A sweetroll."

"Ooooh, how decadent." Ginna comments as she eagerly throws the pastry into the pot. "I never would have guessed it. What next?"

Cinna more confidently plucks a bottle of mead from the counter and hands it to Ginna. "Now you add a splash of mead."

"Ah, of course." Ginna chirps, pouring the golden liquid into the broth. "I suspected as much."

"A nirnroot."

"Really? Oh, I use Nirnroot as a special seasoning all the time as well. What a wonderful idea." Ginna explains as she tosses in the glowing plant. "Ok, now what?"

"And now..." Cinna roots into her satchel and pulls out a spetim. "Add a spetim."

"A Septim? As in...a gold coin? Really?" Ginna inquires. "Ah, I see now. That would give the Potage le Magnifique a slightly metallic, but delicious, aftertaste. Simply brilliant."

Gods, I could tell this girl to thrown in a sapphire and she'd do it. How gullible. Cinna thought. The two take a taste from the pot, the flavors sending warm shivers down Cinna's spine. Wow. She gasps in her thoughts. I gotta write this down someplace, this is good!

"I have to say, the stew seems done. Add anything else, and we may dilute the distnct flavors." Ginna states. "So...is that it?"

"Actually, there's one last ingredient to add." Cinna pulls out the jarrin root and hands it to her Imperial assistant.

"Oh? What is this, some knd of herd? Are you sure?" Ginna asks, glancing between the root in her hand and Cinna. "The Potage tastes perfect as it is. Any other ingredient might-"

"Ginna, who is the Gourmet here?" Cinna inquires.

"I'm sorry." Ginna nervously chuckles. "Of course. it's your most famous recipe, after all." She throws in the root and stirs the contents together. "All right then, your secret ingredient's been added." She glances up at Cinna. "What is it anyway?"

"It's my signature ingredient for all my specialties." Cinna lies. "I only get it from the deepest parts of the jungles of Elswyer. The only place where it's known to grow. I dare not say the name, but it is the best of herbs I have ever used in my time."

"Amazing." Ginna gasps. "And if I may say so, it has been an honor getting a chance to prepare a meal with, well...the best chef in the entire Empire."

"You flatter me too much, Ginna." Cinna chuckles.

"I'll carry the stew pot, and lead the way up to the dining room." Ginna explains, pullng the pot from the cooking pit and placing the lid on it. "I'm sure the Emperor and his guests are dying to meet you."

"Oh, they won't just be dying by the time they get a bite of this."

Cinna proceeds to follow Ginna up to the dining room, she stands to the side as the Emperor finishes his conversation with his guests before turning his attention to her.

"Aha! Here we are." The Emperor pleasently sighs. "Honored guests, I present to you-the Gourmet!" Cinna takes a slight bow as Ginna presents the stew to the Emperor. "Ah, the Potage le Magnifque." He sighs, inhaling the stem spilling from the potted dish. "So delicious. My friends, as Emperor, I of course reserve the right of first taste."

Goodie. Cinna chirps in her thoughts. This'll be over quicker than I thought. She smirks darkly as the Emperor spoons the deadly broth to his lips.

"Oh...oh how marvelous." The Emperor comments, continuing to spoon the meal to hs eager mouth in between sentences. "Just delicious. It is everything I had hoped is would be. It...I..." Cinna's smirk widens as the Emperor drops his utinsel, his hand beginning to tremble. "I think something's...wrong...I..." Cinna grins and quietly pulls out her new, sharp war axe as the Emperor doubles over in his seat before seizing up and toppling from his chair.

"By the gods! The Gourmet and the chef have poisoned the Emperor!" A nearby guard gasps, glancing up at Cinna, who had a wicked grin plastered on her face. "Get them!"

The one guard charges at Cinna, lunging to attack with his sword. Cinna spins to dodge and quickly embeds her axe into the back of his neck, quickly jerking it out as the other guard slaughters Ginna, causing the pot to topple to the floor and spill the hot poisoned broth on the floor. The guard charges for her, Cinna quickly counters with a kick then leaps at the guard, sending him flying to the floor. She picks up the pot and slams it onto the guards head before chopping away at his chest. Now decorated with blood and soup, Cinna quickly makes her way to the back door as she hears guards spilling in from below.

The bridge was clear and unguarded, just as Astrid had promised, now she only needed to get to Cassius and ride back to the Sanctuary. It was all done, she could now begin her planning with taking care of the Nord woman. As she reaches halfway across the bridge, she hears a slow clapping from nearby. She turns around, but finds nobody there. She turns again and finds three Penitus Oculatus agents blocking her way, she then looks up to find Maro standing above. Had he been waiting for her the entire time? What about the Astrid's plan?

"That man was, by far, the most insufferable decoy the Emperor has ever employed. I'm glad he's dead." Maro comments. "Ah, but I'm even happier that _you_ killed him, Cinna."

Cinna growls as she rips off the chef's hat and throws it off the bridge. "Uncle Maro, we meet again I see. How long has it been? Thirteen years maybe?"

"Seems longer than that, my dear niece." Maro huffs. "I always had hopes for you and your brother, but I see you both have taken the paths into the shadows. Cicero I wasn't too surprised about, but you? I had such high hopes for you, Cinna, and you've let me down. Not only are you a traitor to your family and your people, but you betrayed your own country by making an attempt on the Emperor life. If only it were the real man though, you would have succeeded in your efforts so far."

"What?" Cinna gasps. "H-how do you know all this?"

"Surprised, Cinna?" Maro chuckles. "So was I, when a member of your _Family_ came to me with the plan. We worked out a deal, you see. An exchange."

"Exchange? What exchange?"

"I get you, and the Dark Brotherhood gets to continue its existence." Maro explains.

"W-what?!"

Cinna froze up, her through scrambled as she tried to make sense of the situation. Astrid lied to me. She gasps in her thoughts. I put my trust in her, I believed all her damned lies, and this is what she does to me? Betrays me just to keep the Family alive? That bitch!

"But you know what?" Cinna returns her attention to the man overhead. "I've changed my mind." Cinna freezes up again. "How about this? I take you back to your parents, and butcher each and every one of your miserable little friends?"

"No!" Cinna barks, surpriging Maro as she storms forward, shoving a charging agent off the bridge and pulling out her war axe as the other two step back. "Don't you dare lay a hand on them, or I'll gut you like the sorry pig you are!"

"Ha! Too late for that, _dear niece_." Maro chuckles. "Your Sanctuary's being put to the sword right now, and all the ones you ever cared about will be dead. An eye for an eye, Cinna. You killed my son! All of you! And now you'll pay the price." Cinna smirks widely as Maro continues. "Do as you wish, but keep her alive for the trip back to Cyrodil."

"Uncle Maro?" Maro stops and turns to his niece as she slips on her hood. "I just wanted you to know...I enjoyed watching Gais bleed like a damned pig."

She busts out into manaic laughter as Maro storms away, leaving her to deal with the ther two guards. She chops one's head clean off while she breaks the others arm and shoves his own sword through his gut. She charges out of the city and to Cassius, who was anxious waiting at the stables. She leaps onto Cassius and takes off back to the Sanctuary, unaware of Maro watching from the walls above.

"Don't think you can escape me for long, Cinna." Maro states with a dark smirk. "I'll find both you and Cicero, and ship you both back where you belong...in wooden boxes."


	13. Burning Shadows

-Shadows Burn-

Cinna blazed through Falkreath, not sparing a moment's rest since she left Solitude, blazing by every bandit group and wolf pack on the road, in hopes of somehow beating the Penitus Oculotus to the Sanctuary, or at least catching up to them, but as she makes her way into the forest, the smell of smoke in the air brought the news of her tardiness. She leaves Cassius in the cover of the trees and quickly slinks through the shadows towards the Sanctuary, spotting four agents patrolling around the entrance. She sneaks behind a wandering guard and slits his throat, then proceeds to kill the one of the road above as well before sniping the last two from above. She hops down and looks around for any sign of other agents before making her way to the enrtance, but she stops when she notices something on a tree nearby that causes her to drop her bow.

"No." She sadly murmurs, finding Festus pinned up to a tree by a flurry of arrows, his face covered by his hood. She bites her lips and looks away, finding tears brimming in her eyes and a familiar anger enveloped her. "Damn you, Astrid. Look what you've done." She looks back at Festus, hot tears now spilling over, thinking of the last words Festus had spoke to her before she left days before.

"Don't let us down, Cinna."

"I'm sorry, Festus. I failed to protect you all." Cinna wipes the tears from her eyes, digging into her satchel and pulling out the Nigthweaver's band. She slips it on then looks back up at the elderly Breton. "But if that bitch is still alive in there...I'll make sure she pays for this."

Pulling her hood up, she quietly makes her way inside, quickly being overwhelmed by the smoke that had built up behind the sealed door, the stone within the place shaking violently from explosions within the walls. She pulls her mask up to keep from breathing in much more smoke before continuing on down the stairs, hearing voices the closer she got to the bottom. Two agents were talking about who the rat was within the Family, but she knew all too well who it was, and she wouldn't have them get away with it. She snipes one then jams her dagger into the throat of the other and he comes to investigate before continuing into the Sanctuary, finding the body of Veezera nearby. Shaking the tears building again, she proceeds down into the bowels of the Sanctuary, surprised to find Arnbjorn still alive, transformed and fighting off several of the agents. She was relieved until one of the agents struck him in the neck, causing the large animal to fall limp to the ground. Cinna quickly notches and arrow back, taking out the remaining agents.

She quickly presses on through the alchemy lab, finding Gabriella's body as well, causing her to stop for a moment as she pulls out an Amulet of Julianos that she had been carrying around. She had foudn it in a crypt she looted on the way to Solitude, and was saving it to give to the Dunmer as a gift. She carefully places the amulet in the cold hand of her dear friend and closes her stiff, blue fingers around it before proceeding.

Is the Family truly gone? Cinna ponders as she enters the dining area. Was all this really for nothing? Because of that traitorous bitch?

She hears the clashing of metal nearby and looks up, her eyes lighting up by who she spots fighting off an agent above. She quickly hurries up the log stairs as the agent kicks Nazir away, then leaps onto the man's back and pulls him to the floor. The two nearly roll off the ledge but Cinna quickly kicks the man away and rolls to her feet, dodging a torrent of flames as it comes within inches of her face then using her Ice Spike spell to embed a large shard of ice in the man's face, causing his body to go limp.

"Cinna!" The Imperial quickly finds herself in the Redguard's arms, almost forgetting their deathly situation as she nearly collapsed in exhaustion on the other's embrace. "Thank the Gods, you're still alive. I was starting to worry."

"The Emperor...it was all a trap." Cinna murmurs, pulling away from Nazir as she collects herself. "Someone set us up, and I have a good idea of who it was."

"Considering most of us are dead, I assumed as much." Nazir states, coughing from the enveloping smoke. Cinna pulls him down below the building cloud of smoke as he continues. "And before you ask, I never thought it was you. You would never betray us like this, I know you too well. I know you weren't fond of Astrid, but you would never endanger the rest of the Family like this. You care too much about them to do something like this."

"Good to know that at least." Cinna sighs. "And you can thank me later for saving you. But right now, we need to locate any survivors and get out of here."

"Right." Nazir grunts as the two rise to their feet. "Only a matter of time before we're considered roasted alive. Come on!"

The two hurry through the smoke and flames, trying to locate anyone else who may have survived, but a familar raspy voice echoes in Cinna's ears.

"Listener. I am your only salvation. Come. Embrace me."

Cinna shudders at the suggestion from the voice as she follows Nazir into the Night Mother's chambers, finding their only other exit blocked by fallen debris.

"Damn it, there's got to be a way out of here!" Nazir growls.

Cinna swallows a nervous lump, glancing towards the Night Mother's open coffin. The idea may have made her soul freeze over twelve different ways, but it was the only way to escape. If she charged hard enough into the coffin, it would break the window over the water pool below, giving them a safe place within the flames. Throwing every bit of common sense into the wind, she charges for the coffin and tackles it hard enough to send it crashing through the stained glass, but also causing the coffin to close and lock behind her, enveloping both bodies in an eternal, almost tiring darkness as the raspy voice whispered in her ear.

"Sleep."

"Sleep does seem like a good idea right now." Cinna quietly murmurs, succumbing to the tiresome darkness around here.

After what seems like hours, Cinna's stirred for her sleep by a pair of familiar voices on the outside of the coffin, muffled by the iron and her still sleepy ears.

"Hurry, Nazir! I'm telling you, she's in there!"

"Babette..."

"I'm going...as fast...as I can, you stupid she-devil." The sound of dragging could be heard between words. "I don't see you...helping..."

"Nazir..."

"i'm not exactly built for manual labor." Cinna weakly chuckles at the statement; Babette is always finding excuses. "Now come on, you've almost got it."

"One more...pull..."

The coffin suddenly shifts up right, nearly causing the still weary Imperial to face plant against the door, putting her hands up in a meager effort to keep herself upright in the iron confinment she was in.

"Can you get it open?"

"I think so. Just hold on a moment."

Cinna rests her head against the door, this whole nightmare would finally be over. Finally.

"You must speak with Astrid." The raspy voice whispered in her ear. "Here, in the Dark Brotherhood Sanctuary."

"No problem." Cinna murmurs. "I got a score to even with her."

The doors open and Cinna crumbles to the ground, still dazed and weak, then is quickly turned over and propped up in the now familiar arms she had become so aquainted with.

"Cinna! You're alive!" Babette cries, kneel down beside her and Nazir pulled off the mperial's hood. "Thank goodness!"

"Ha. After all I've been through, this is nothing." Cinna jokes, trying to sit up and quickly stopped by Nazir.

"Whoa, slow down. It's all right. You've been through a lot." Nazir states. "You need to rest for a bit. You're in no shape to go anywhere right now."

"I'm fine, Nazir. After all the crypts and caves and forts I've been through, should very well be dead by now anyway." Cinna jokes as she tries to climb to her feet, soon being helped up by the Redguard. "But the Night Mother has another task for me. I'm not letting this one go."

"Well, if that's the case, lead on." Nazir sighs. "I'm right behind you."

Cinna and Nazir venture into the burnt remains of the Sanctuary, making their way to Astrid's room, Cinna hoping to find her here and instead finds a secret room of sorts, lit up by a circle of candles, and with a body sitting in the middle of the circle. Cinna recognized the face right away as the two slowly approached.

"Alive...You're alive...Thank Sithis..." Astrid weakly says, her breaths raspy as she coughed violently.

"Well, look what we have here." Cinna coyly sighs as she kneels down. "Funny how karma works. Right, Astrid?"

"Cinna...Please. There is much...I have to say. And...not much time..." Astrid croaks. "I'm sorry. So very sorry. The Penitus Oculatus...Maro...He said that by giving you to them, he would leave the Dark Brotherhood alne. Forever."

"That's what you get for trusting my uncle." Cinna murmurs.

"By Sithis, I was such a fool. All of this...it's all my fault. You are the best of us, and I nearly killed you...and I've killed everyone else..."

"I knew you had set me up, Astrid." Cinna states. "All this time, you had been abusing your power, lying to your own Family, and now look what that all has brought upon us. All because you couldn't accept the fact that there was a new order to follow, a new set of rules, and a new leader to the Brotherhood. But all I wanna ask...is why? I may have doubted you ways of leading, but I put my full trust in you, as I did in everyone else. Why would you betray that trust, Astrid? Why?"

"Because...I was afraid of you." Astrid chokes up, violently coughing before she continued. "When you became the Listener, when you started converging with all the members, when you went and slaughtered Cicero, I knew then just how far you would go to protect the Brotherhood...but I also knew that you could sense my lies, my deceit...and that you would come after me next when you had the chance to. You were always a loyal assassin...but your loyalties changed after you became the Listener... know Cicero told you of the old ways...and that's what you were working so hard for: To bring the Brotherhood back to the old Tenants, to bring them back to the old ways."

"Funny." Cinna sighs. "You figured out half of it: My views did change, but not after I became Listener. I was informed of the old ways, and I did wish to go back to them. I could sense your lies, but I wasn't going to kill you for them, I had my own plans. Be glad your judgement will be in the Void, for I could do much worse to you here. I pity you."

"No!" Astrid croaks violently. "Don't pity me. I desrve whatever fate the Dread Lord has in store. I betrayed you...and now Maro has betrayed me. Fitting..."

"Very." Cinna plucks at the edge of her bloody knife as she spoke. "You betray me, and my dear uncle who I despise with a passion stabs you in the back. But he'll have his time."

"I just wanted things...to stay the way they were." Cinna curiously glances towards the burnt Nord. "Before Cicero, before the Night Mother. Before...you. I thought I could save us. I was wrong."

"Well, Astrid, it doesn't usually work out like that." Cinna states. "If I learned anything from my mother back in Cyrodil, it's this: In the kingdom of the blind, the one-eyed man is king. But when the king tries to benefit himself, he shuts his eye and becomes blind himself, allowing others to come and slaughter his kingdom. Astrid...you are the one-eyed man, and your greed has lead to the down fall of us all."

"But you're alive! That's still a chance. A chance to start over, rebuild. That's why I did...this. Don't you see?" Cinna looks around the room, finding pieces of the Black Sacrament: an iron dagger, a nightshade, the candles, even the book n a far corner.

"Astrid...you-"

"I prayed to the Night Mother! I am the Black Sacrement."

Cinna was surprised, because it this was true, that could only mean...

"What are you saying?" Cinna asks.

"I'm saying you were right. The Night Mother was right." Astrid explains. "The old ways...they guided the Dark Brotherhood for centuries. I was a fool to oppose them. And to prove my...sincerity, I have prayed for a contract. You lead this Family now."

"W-what?" Cinna gasps. "But, Astrid, I-"

"I give you the Blade of Woe, so the you can see it through."

"Astrid."

"You must kill-"

"Don't say it."

"Me."

Cinna heavily sighs, shakily taking the Blade of Woe from Astrid's side, examining the glowing, red runes on the blade. Could she really do this?

"Do it, Listener. Kill me." Cinna pulls her hood up, meeting eyes with Astrid as she prepared to strike."Do it for the Night Mother."

"This isn't for the Night Mother this time, Astrid." Her eyes grow dark as she glares down as Astrid. "This is for my dear brother...Cicero." She violently strikes Astrid across the throat, watching as she falls limp before standing and exitting the room, quickly approaching the Night Mother.

"Astrid is dead. It is as it should be. May she find redemption in the Void."

"I prefer if she find suffering instead." Cinna bitterly murmurs.

"Do not resent her, Listener. You served her final wishes. Relish in the glory that her blood now stains you blade. But while you live, the Dark Brotherhood lves. We must fulfill our contract. Emperor Ttus MEde II must be eliminated. Speak with Amaund Motierre at the Bannered Mare in Whiterun. He will know the true Emperor's location." Cinna nods and turns to leave, but is stopped by the raspy voice. "But first, inform Nazr of your plans. For you are the Listener, and must bnd this Family together."

"Of course." She murmurs, slowly making her way back to Nazir as her mind wandered off, soon bumping into him as he is exitting Astrid's room. "Sorry, Nazir."

"It's alright." Nazir says. "Buut by Sithis, what a mess. I guess this is the end."

"Not exactly." Cinna sighs. "The Night Mother has spoken to me again."

"What?" Nazir gasps. "Well...what did she say?"

"I must speak with Amaund Motierre once more." Cinna explains.

"Amaund Motierre? But that would mean-"

"The contract's still on." Cinna finishes. "The true Emperor must be assassinated."

"You mean there's still a chance? But how?" Nazir inquires. "Our plan has gone to ruin, everyone is dead, the Family-"

"You have to trust me on this, Nazir." Cinna states. "The Family will live on."

"Hmph. All right then." Nazir sighs pleasently. "Go find out what that slimy bastard has to say, then send the Emperor to Sithis." Cinna nods and turns to leave but is stopped by Nazir as he grabs her shoulder, causing her to turn back to the Redguard. "But when you're done...there's no use returning here, is there? I was thinking...the Dawnstar Sanctuary. We could make a proper home there." Cinna sadly smiles at the thought of that, knowing Cicero would be happily waiting for them there. She would soon see her brother agan. "When you're finished, meet Babette and me there. I'll find some way to move the Night Mother. Don't worry."

Cinna nods and goes to leave, but finds herself stopped again. "Let me go, Nazir." She finds herself silently pulled against the Redguard as she tries to pull away. "Nazir, please, I-"

"You had to do it, Cinna." Nazir states, placing a hand behind the Imperial's head. "Don't feel too guilty about it, there was nothing you could do for her."

"But that bitch betrayed us, she put us all through hell, and I can't even have the pleasure of doing the same to her. After going through all I did, she goes to the Void to recieve punishment, when it should've been by my hand. I..." Cinna shakes violently as she drops the dagger in her hand, almost falling to her knees had Nazir not been supporting her. "It's not fair!" She cries, breaking down as she grips onto the Redguard, tears she had been holdng back for the longest time finally spilling. "She killed everyone, she destroyed the Family, she ruined everything! She gets the peace of dying while the rest of us have to suffer!"

This goes one for an hour or so until Cinna finally calms down, looking up at the Redguard with teary eyes. "It'll be all right, Cinna. Just finsh this contract, and you'll have nothing else to worry about." He gently pecks Cinna on the forehead then pulls up her hood. "Now go, the sooner you finish this, the sooner you can return home."

Cinna nods and quickly hurries out of the Sanctuary; Nazir sighes and picks up the Blade of Woe at his feet, hearing Cassius whining outside as the thundering of horseshoes disappears into the distance.

"Good luck, Cinna." Nazir murmurs, looking at the Blade of Woe. "And please return safe."


	14. Deals In The Dark

-Deals in the Dark-

Finding Amaund was easy in a place like the Bannered Mare, drawing the information of the Emperor's location was even easier, even getting the location of her dear uncle, whom she had more than just a score to settle with. Getting to Solitude was simple in the cover of night, as was bribing the guard who tried to arrest her upon dismounting Cassius, and finding Maro was the easiest task of all with her new disguise that she bought in Falkreath, as well as a fake accent to throw him off. She even had the perfect ploy to lure the Commander away from the docks, running up to the man frantically, sputterng something about spotting an assassin on the nearby shore, possibly a survivor from the Falkreath attack. He so easily fell for it and followed Cinna into the swampy land around the inlet, pressing on until they were out of sight from any guards, stopping at a smalll area surrounded by standing rocks.

"I saw them around here somewhere." Cinna states, nervously looking around as Maro scans the horizon. "I recognized the clothing and knew I had to report it right away."

"Good thing you did, citizen." Maro comments. "We don't need any of these rats to slip from under our noses. We need to purge this before it grows again." Cinna quietly smirks under her mask as she creeps up behind the other, drawing her dagger. "Do you see anything?"

Cinna suddenly grabs Maro's arm and twists it behind his back, putting her dagger against his throat as she darkly chuckles, allowing her hood to fall off. "You really are a sucker, aren't you, Uncle Maro? Do you really think an assassin of our prowess could be so easily detected? You truly are a sap."

"Why am I not surprised?" Maro huffs sarcastically. "Tricked by my own blood twice. You really live up to your occupation, Cinna. Not that it's a nobel path."

"Maybe not, but every family has their dark secrets." Cinna states. "And for you, it's Cicero and myself, and even you are a dark secret. Making a deal with the Dark Brotherhood isn't exactly the most noble thing to do as the Emperor's guard."

"Ha. Maybe, but at least I know where my loyalties lie, unlike you." Maro grunts as Cinna twists his arm. "So why am I still alive? I figured you would've killed me by now."

"I could." Cinna sighs. "I could slit your throat and throw your body in the water, or even leave it here for some unfortunate soul to find. But I have bigger plans for you, uncle."

"What's that suppose to mean?"

"Unlike Astrid, I know you, Uncle Maro. I know how to deal with you, what's important to you, even what makes you tick. It's my job." Cinna explains. "So listen closely so we'll both be able to live happily ever after."

"I'm listening."

"My contract against the Emperor is still going, and I can't risk anything going wrong this time." Cinna elaborates. "So here's my deal: I know who set up the contract, and I know where he's hiding at. I can give you his location, and you can go and arrest him for treason. You'll be reknowned for capturing a traitor of the Empire, you'll be famous. But I need you to make sure that my path to the Emperor sheds as little blood as possible."

"And what if I refuse?" Mare inquires.

"Well." Cinna coyly sighs, twisting Maro's arm further. "I have been contacting my brother again in Cyrodil recently, keeping in touch so we know how each is handling their own. And Cicero just so happens to be heading home...to tie some loose ends." Cinna feels Maro tense up and smirks darkly as she continues. "Now, I know how close my father and you are, uncle, and since Cicero and I are so close, I can tell him not to go through with it and leave them alone, or I could tell him to make them both suffer excrucating deaths before making a stop to the Imperial City. Do we want that happening now, dear uncle?"

Maro fell silent for a minute or so. "What do you need me to do?" He mutters.

"Delay the departure of the Katariah." Cinna orders. "Clear off the sailors for the night, tell them to rest at the Winking Skeever so they can ship off early tomorrow morning. Now would also be a good time to pull off any favorite soldiers from the boat and put the ones you despise on there...because no one is leaving that boat alive except me." She roughly pushes Maro away before sheathing her dagger. "And if I find my orders haven't been followed, or that you try to endanger anyone else I know, Cicero is just a letter away from causing mayhem to the Maro and Miles families. Remember that." She turns and begins to walk away. "I'll be camping out nearby. Have the orders prepared by sun down...I prefer to take my kills in the night."

With that, Cinna disappears into the night, leaving Maro to process all that had just happened. He had his life, his family, and hs own reputation threatened by his own niece, and made a deal to spare all three with the very same woman. He truly underestimated her when he first met her when she was impersonating the Gourmet days before. Now she had fooled him and dragged hm into her plot for murder all in the same flash of a blade. What other choice did he have then to follow through with it all? Since, truly unlike Astrid, Cinna had connections back home, ones even he was afraid of.

After resting for a few hours on the opposing shore of the inlet, Cinna prepares to board the ship: Changing into her armor, sharpening her dagger, and ensuring her special poison was on hand. She then dives into the waters and makes her way to the ship, climbing in through the anchor port and finding the ship surprisingly empty, aside from a handful of Oculatus agents in the rooms of the ship, which she took care of with ease as she slinked through the shadows, either pinning an arrow into their neck or stabbing them in the back as they passed her. So far, all had been according to plan, she was even able to loot the extra gold Maro probably paid the agents to guard the ship for tonight. When she makes her way for the Emperor's quarters, she's surprised to find two agents guarding the door. Cinna smirks in the shadows as she watches the two.

Seems uncle wanted to give me a bit of a challenge. Cinna thought as she notches back an arrow. Good. This was getting a bit boring anyway.

She snipes the one in the neck before hiding in the shadows as the other runs out past her. She notches another arrow and shoots him in the back of the neck. She peers back into the room and finds three more guards coming to investigate.

Yay, more practice.

Cinna eliminates five more guards before being able to proceed into the Emperor's quarters, finding him with his back to her as she carefully creeps in through the door, quietly shutting and locking it behind her before pullng out her blade, tainting it with her unique poison before slowly approaching the Emperor.

"And, once more, I prove Commander Maro the fool." Cinna's confused as she looks around, wondering who the Emperor was talking to. "I told him you can't stop the Dark Brotherhood. Never could." Cinna was surprised as the Emperor slowly turned to her, even more when he didn't seem afraid, but more welcoming. "Come now, don't be shy." He motions her to stand and approach, which the Imperial reluctantly does. "You haven't come this far just to stand there gawking."

"Um...were you...expecting me?" Cinna asks, more confused than anything.

"But of course." The Emperor states. "You and I have a date with destiny. But so it is with assassins and emperors, hmm?" Cinna still tries to understand the whole situation as the Emperor calmly continues. "Yes, I must die. And you must deliver the blow. It is simply the way it is." He slowly approaches Cinna, who sheathes her dagger as the two come face-to-face. "But I wonder...would you suffer an old man a few more words before the deed is done?"

"Of course." Cinna sighs. "I don't usually give last words to my targets...but I can always make a few exceptions every now and again."

The Emperor tiredly smiles with a nod of his head. "I thank you for your courtesy." He walks around his desk, facing Cinna as he motions for her to sit as he continues. "you will kill me, and I have accepted that fate. But regardless of your path through life, I sense in you a certain...ambition." Cinna, now somehow completely relaxed, pulls her hood down as the old man spoke. "So I ask of a favor. An old man's dying wish. While there are many who would see me dead, there is one who set the machine in motion. This person, whomever he or she may be, must be punshed for their treachery. Once you have been rewarded for my assassination, I want you to deal with the very person who ordered it. Would you do me this kindness?"

"Of course." Cinna chuckles. "Strangely enough, I already worked something out with someone in your guard. I assure you that my client won't be getting away with this contract cleanly...even the richest of rats need to wallow in the filth."

"Cunning." The Emperor sighs with a chuckle. "Such as an Imperial should be. And I suppose you know Commander Maro personally to set that up." Cinna was surprised, how had he known? "Commander Maro would've never cleared out half of his troops from the ship to replace them with less than that unless someone told him to. So how are you and Maro connected? Old business partners? Former friends maybe?"

"He's my uncle." Cinna explains. "As much as I resent him, he still has his uses for me."

"Truly an assassin to use your enemy to fortify your plans. You certainly are a tricky woman, you'll go far into your current path, I'm sure." The Emperor comments. "But, on to the business at hand I suppose, hmm?" He slowly rises and walks over to the window.

Cinna quietly sighs and pulls out her tainted dagger, glancing between the man and her dagger. "Are you sure you're ready for this?"

"I've been prepared for this since I first arrived to Skyrim." The Emperor sighs. "Don't be so resentful of this, it is your task after all."

Cinna nods and quietly walks up behind the Emperor, quickly slitting his throat, then catching the body and carefully guiding it to the floor. She heavily sighs, pulling out an amulet of Talos from her bag and placing it in the Emperor's hand, closing the still warm fingers around it.

"Talos guide you, Titus Mede." She murmurs as she stands, pulling up her hood before she loots the quarters of it's goods then continuing to the empty deck, leaping off the side of the ship and swimmng to the shoreline, soon finding herself being approached by her uncle. "Waiting for me, are you?" She chuckles, pulling back her soaked hood as Maro approached.

"Alright, I've done my part, now you need to do your own." Maro grunts. "Where is this traitor hiding?"

"He's at the Bannered Mare in Whiterun." Cinna explains. "But we do this my way or I slaughter the pig myself."

"Fine, what's your plan?" Maro asks.

"Have yourself and two of your men wait in the Bannered Mare for a woman matching my description, wait until I leave the room the traitor is waiting in, then you can proceed to go and arrest the man for treason. Then, hopefully, we'll never have to make deals like this again. You leave myself and my friends alone, and I'll leave our families alone in Cyrodil. Do we have an agreement?"

"Of course." Maro groans.

"Good." Cinna chirps. "I'll see you in Whiterun then." She then walks away, disappearing into the night once again as she makes her way to some cover. She then changes nto her civillian clothing and makes her way to Cassius at the stables, mounting the night black horse and taking off for Whiterun.

A few days later, after stopping to ransack some camps and caves along the way, Cinna reaches Whiterun, quickly making her way to the Bannered Mare. As she enters the tavern, she spots Maro and his men in one of the darker corners of the inn. Cinna and Maro exchange nods before she makes her way to the back room, pulling down her hood as she closes the doors behind her.

"Aha! You're back!" Amaund chirps, looking up from the book in his hand. "So?"

"Titus Mede II is now Titus Mede: The second to die." Cinna states.

"I know! I know!" Amaund cheers as he stands from his seat. "I recieved the news not moments ago! This is glorious!" He suddenly embraces the assassin, who awkwardly freezes up as the other man releases her. "My friend, you may not realize it, but you have served the Empire, indeed all of Tamriel, in ways you cannot possibly imagine." Amaund chuckles as he takes his seat again. "Ah, but you care little for politics, am I right? You want money! And money you shall have!"

"Alright, so where is it?" Cinna asks.

"Your payment waits for you at a dead drop. It is inside an urn, n the very chamber where we first met, in Volunruud." Amaund explains. "Now please, go. Collect your money, and let us never look upon one another again. Out business, thank the gods, is concluded."

"Very well." Cinna sighs, turning and opening the doors to the room, finding Maro and his men waiting outside the doors. "He's all yours."

She calmly walks by the men, smiling as she hears Amaund put up a struggle be the men finally contain the man. She hangs around outside to watch as Amaund is dragged away to the gates. She sighs pleseantly and makes her way to the stables. She had a reward to collect after all, before anyone else managed to find the gold themselves.

After retrieving the grandiose sack of gold from Volunruud, Cinna begins to make her way out to head to Dawnstar, but is surprised to find Cassius wasn't waiting for her outside the crypt. Wondering if the poor stallion was frightened by something, she goes to search for her lost steed, calling out his name as she trekked across the snowy plains. She soon finds herself lost and begins looking for a road of any kind, hopng Cassius would find his way to her. But as she finally locates a road, she senses she isn't alone on that road and pulls out her glass mace.

"Who's there?" She calls out, trying to focus her eyes in the darkness of the night, but is unable to see anything with the cloud blocking the moons.

As she turns to look around, she suddenly finds and arrow embedded in her shoulder, causing her to crumble to her knee in pain. She glances toward the arrow, finding it to be a steel arrow-ones commonly used by soldiers.

"You bastard!" Cinna curses, pushing herself to her feet and breaking off the shaft of the arrow. "We had a deal, you traitorous pig!"

"Well, as you've learned, I don't tend to stick to my deals."

Cinna turns, finding Maro approaching her from the road, Cassius in his tow. She growls angrily, her eyes almost glowing with rage. "Let him go!" She barks.

"And why should I do that?" Maro asks.

"I gave you Amaund, isn't that enough?" Cinna growls.

"Not after all the blood you've spilled, Cinna." Maro states. "You see, I've been thinkng about what you said, how every family has their dark secrets. And I realized something after you left for Whiterun: If you and Cicero are really our dark secret...then what fun would it be to hide it anymore?"

"You bastard!" Cinna lunges at Maro, swing her mace but missing as Maro side steps the attack, kneeing Cinna in the face and causing her to stumble back.

"You should know better than to trust such a bastard, Cinna." Maro chuckles, approaching the dazed Cinna and kneeling beside her. "Didn't your father teach you anything while you still obeyed him?" Cinna glares at the Imperial man as he stands and walks away, shakily climbing to her feet.

"Don't you walk away from me, you bastard!" Cinna snaps, wiping the blood from her nose as she tries to stay on her feet.

"Don't worry, Cinna. We'll be seeing each other again. Very soon."


	15. From The Ashes

-From The Ashes-

Come on. Just a little bit further. Cinna urged herself as she and Cassius quietly trotted through Dawnstar in the cover of night, Cinna clasping at her injured shoulder as she laid against Cassius's neck, feeling her life ooze out between her fingers as she clutched at the wound painfully, feeling the tip of the arrow still buried in flesh shift as she tries to move her lift her head, knowing the entrance to the Sanctuary was just feet away. As she and Cassius round the rocky corner, she weakly smiles upon laying eyes on the familiar metal door set in the side of the rock before her. She clumsily climbs off, hissing from the pain in her shoulder as she grips at it, steadying herself against Cassius. Her vision goes white from the blinding pain as she shifts to turn herself to the door and forces herself to stand and try to approach the door.

"Sister!" Cinna glances in the direction of the call, weakly grinning as she sees Cicero approach. "You're back, thank goodness!"

"It's good to see you again too, brother." Cinna sighs, restraining from yelping in pain as Cicero hugs her, weakly trying to return the embrace. "After so long."

"Are you alright, sister?" Cicero asks, just then noticing his sister's worn condition. "You don't seem to look too well."

"I'm fine." Cinna shakily states, winces as she tries to move her shoulder. "Just ran into a bit of trouble along the way. Nothing I couldn't deal with."

Cicero notices the stiffness of Cinna's shoulder, noticing a rough slit in the armor, he curiously and suddenly reaches a finger into the slit, finding a bloody wound hiding behind it. "Sister, you're hurt!" He gasps.

"It's nothing." Cinna grunts through her teeth as she moves Cicero's hand away. "Just a bandit arrow that got me when I wasn't looking, I'll be fine."

"Cicero is not going to let his sister suffer from such a grave wound." Cicero scolds, quickly scooping up to other Imperial and making his way into the new Sanctuary.

"Cicero, please." Cinna weakly begs, feeling her head begin to spin from the bloodloss already. "There's no need to do this. I'll be fine."

"Cicero shall not ignore his sister while she is in so much pain. You aren't leaving until you see the unchild." Cicero scolds, making his way to the main room. "Babette! Nazir!"

The said two, who had been anxious waiting for Cinna's return, rush upstairs as they see Cicero enter with the weakened Cinna in his arms.

"By Sithis, what happened?" Nazir asks as Cicero carefuly sets Cinna on the floor, resting her against the wall as the other two join him.

"Cinna said it was bandits." Cicero states, showing the two the wound on Cinna's shoulder. "But even a bandit isn't that good of a shot."

"Let me see." Babette orders, swiftly stripping Cinna of her top armor and taking a closer look at the wound. "It's more serious than just a wound, it seems." Babette comments, carefully opening the wound as Cinna twitches in pain.

"How serious is it, Babette?" Nazir inquires.

"Well, for a start, the arrow head is still in there." Babette states, carefully reaching her small fingers into the wound, which causes Cinna thrash violently. "Hold her down, you two. If I can't get this out, she'll bleed out from the wound."

Cicero and Nazir both secure Cinna's arms and legs as Babette reaches in again, causing Cinna to screeh in pain as the unchild pulls out the head of what looked to be a steel arrow. She sets it aside before pulling out a health potion from her satchel, ripping a bit of cloth from her dress then opening the bottle.

"This'll sting a little, but it should help the healing go by a bit faster." Babette explain before slowly pouring the contents onto the wound, holding the cloth underneath as it seeped out then pressing the now soaked cloth against wound, all while Cinna struggled from the intense pain before nearly passing out as relief swept over her mind, her vision hazy as she looked at the three around her.

"It's alright, Cinna." Nazir sighs, brushing a messy red bang from the Imperial woman's face as he spoke. "You're gonna be alright now."

Cinna tiredly smiles before passing out from exhaustion, the three around her sighing in relief before Nazir carefully picks her up.

"Nice job, Cicero." Babette comments. "Good thing someone was around, or she probably wouldn't have made it inside."

"Well, it's Cicero's job to protect his dear sister." Cicero states, happily glancing at hte now resting Cinna. "It has been from the very start."

"Yeah." Babetter sighs. "Nazir explained it all to me, that you're Cinna's actual brother. It's kinda funny really."

"How so?" Cicero asks.

"Well, you both met by chance on the road to Windhelm, you both end up being close friends in the Brotherhood, then she spared your life after finding out the truth you both deluded yourselves from. Kinda sounds like the plot to an odd bedtime story. You know?"

"I suppose it does." Nazir chuckles. "But I'm gonna see if I can find a place for Cinna to rest while she recovers. Hopefully it won't take her too long."

"Yeah." Babette sighs as she looks around. "We've got a lot to do before we can truly call this our home. A lot of clean up and decorating to do."

"Which we'll take care of once Cinna is on her feet again." Nazir states as he disappears into a hallway, soon finding a small room clean enough to make a suitable resting area. He carefully sets Cinna down against a wall before rolling out a bear pelt and shifting Cinna to lie on the it before covering her up with another bear pelt. "You just rest up." He murmurs. "We're gonna need you to rebuild everything...my lil' Nightshade." He plants a gentle kiss on her temple before rising and quietly leaving the room.

-One Week Later-

"Just a bit more, Cinna." Babette sighs as she slowly pours the remainder of the small bottle onto the wound before she begins to put fresh wrappings on it. "There, all done. And it's looking better too. Should only be a day or so until it's completely healed."

"I hope so." Cinna chuckles. "I despise being confined in this place for much longer. I really need to get to Riften and have Delvin help with fixing this place up."

"Not while you're still injured, sister." Cicero states. "There's no need to be risking your recovery over a few decorations."

"I suppose so." Cinna sighs. "But, if I had someone to accompany me to Riften, would you feel more comfortable with letting me go then?"

"Well...I guess that would be fine." Cicero mutters, lamenting the idea of letting his injured sister anywhere outside of these walls. "But _only_ straight to Riften and back, no crypts, no caves, no ruins."

"Deal." Cinna chuckles. "And since that is the condition, would you mind if it was Nazir who would accompany me to Riften?"

"Of course not." Cicero sighs. "I trust Nazir will keep you safe on your travels, and keep you on the roads."

"Don't worry, I will." Nazir states, entering the main chamber with Cinna's packed satchel. "That didn't take you too long, did it, Cinna?" Cinna simply shrugs as the Redguard tosses her the satchel.

"Wait, you planned to go anyway?" Cicero gasps.

"No, I just knew you'd allow me to go if I had someone protecting me." Cinna explains as she stands, slipping on her armor and then her satchel. "I had asked Nazir before, and he said only if I could persuade you to allow me to leave the Sanctuary, which I did."

Cicero stood there stunned for a minute then busts out into laughter. "Oh, dear little Cinna has fooled the fool himself! You truly are my little sister."

"I know." Cinna chirps then hugs Cicero. "We'll be back as soon as we can, brother. I promise." She states.

"And I'll make sure she doesn't get into too much trouble along the way." Nazir adds. "Now let's get moving, I'd prefer to have the moonlight on my back."

The two then make their way to their horses waiting outside, with only the two and Shadowmere having been promised to her, she mounted the pitch black steed as Nazir mounts Cassius. The two then ride off into the night and head for Riften, remaining focused on the roads as caves and ruins they passed along the roads tickled at Cinna's ever eager spirit, making it more difficult to focus. The two eventually reach Riften, dismounting their horses and making their way to the Ratway, slipping through the dark tunnels and soon finding the Ragged Flagon. Cinna tells Nazir to wait at the door while she spoke to Delvin, but soon finds herself surprised by the young Khajiit that had snuck up behind her, nearly falling into the water had both the Khajiit and Redguard not caught her and pulled her back onto her feet.

"I'm sorry, Cinna. Xahley didn't mean to spook you." The familiar Khajiit giggles as Cinna attempts to regain her breath.

"Be glad I consider you such a close friend or I would have every right to skin you, Xahley." Cinna huffs as she brushes back her messy bangs.

"I'm guessing you're here to speak with Delvin?" Xahley asks.

"Yes, I am." Cinna confirms. "It's-"

"Xahley knows, Xahley knows. Family business and all." Xahley sighs. "I'll go and fetch him for you. Give Xahley a second."

"You know her?" Nazir asks as the snow-furred feline scampers off to the tables across the way. "How? You never told me you had connections to the Thieves Guild."

"Well, she's not really a 'connection'." Cinna explains. "Xahley and I are close friends...sorta. We met at Helgen and escaped together. We travelled to Whiterun together, and we basically covered each other's backs until we went out seperate ways at Whiterun. She came here to Riften to join the Thieves Guild, and I went north to join the Stormcloaks...or that was what I planned on doing, until I got mixed up in the Dark Brotherhood...then I found my new calling with you all."

"Still can't believe you decided to stay with us." Nazir states. "You coud've continued on to join the Stormcloaks, you could've turned down Astrid's offer, you could've even come to kill us all and be done with it. But you didn't."

"Because it felt right." Cinna sighs. "When I killed Grelod before, something strange stirred in me that I never felt before besides in the thrill of battle, but I simply shrugged it off as anxiety. But then when I killed that Khajiit for Astrid's test, it came back, stronger than ever. I knew then that what I was feeling wasn't anxiety...it was ecstacy, pure joy almost from having the fate of others in my hands, having my blade against their throat, it was sheer bliss to me. And I didn't really mind at that point. That's why I joined the Brotherhood, but I never thought it would all come to this: becoming an elite assassin, becoming the Listener, finding my long lost brother, and becoming the new leader of the Brotherhood. It all seems a bit...much."

"But it's nothing you can't handle." Nazir adds. "After all, you went through quite a bit to get to where you are now: you've spilled much blood, stabbed a few hearts, crushed a few skulls, and you have broken down yourself once or twice, but you persevered through it all." He places a firm hand on the Imperial's shoulder. "You survived through all of that, and I can't say if I would have if I were in your position. Even with all the pressures of being the Listener, climbing your way to the top, and even stumbling a few times as you went along with Amaund's contracts, you still made it through everything. And that, my dear, is where you and Astrid begin to differ, in both my eyes and the eyes of the world. But don't let your story stop here, there's still quite a bit for you to write in your own book, Listener, and I'd like to read that story before my own ends as well."

"I'll see about getting to that." Cinna dryly chuckles.

"Well, look who's back." The two turn as Xahley approaches with Delvin at her side. "After we heard about the Falkreath Sanctuary going up in smoke, I thought I'd never hear from you again, but I guess I owe Xahley some coin for thinking that."

"Very funny, Delvin." Cinna sighs. "But I'm here for bigger reasons than to add coin to Xahley's more-than-bursting coin purse."

"I can tell." Delvin chuckles, handing Xahley a handful of gold as he spoke. "Since you brought a friend as well. He from the Family as well?"

"Yes, I am." Nazir states. "I'm here to ensure Cinna's swift trip back home."

"Alright then." Delvin sighs. "Then what does that lovely lady want?"

Nazir glares at the Breton as Cinna responds. "I was wondering if you would be able to assit somehow in repairing and refitting the Dawnstar Sanctuary."

"The Dawnstar Sanctuary? That where you lot are holing up in now?" Delvin asks.

"Wow, quite a distance from your old home." Xahley comments, Cinna simply rolls her eyes. "But what can Xahley say? Home is home, no matter how far you go."

"No matter the case, can you still help?" Cinna asks.

Delvin ponders the idea for a bit before responding. "Tell you what. It'll cost youquite a bit, but I can help you out."

"Xahley too." The Khajiit offers. "After all, I might be taking over this part of the job as well when Delvin here finally leaves us."

"We'll see about that." Delvin chuckles, ruffling the smaller Khajiit's dreads. "How about we all sit down and discuss this over a drink?"

"Would your members be okay with that?" Cinna inquires.

"As long as you're with us, we won't let them bother you with too many questions." Xahley states.

"Especially friends of our lil' soon-to-be guildmaster here." Delvin jokes.

"Very funny." Xahley scoffs.

The four makes their way to the Ragged Flagon and take their seats around a table, then begin to speak about the plans for the Sanctuary, including clearing up the debris and crypts, the addition of a poisoner's nook and torture chamber, even the installation of a secret entrance outside the small town through the newly purchased stain glass of Sithis. After exchanging gold and ideas for about an hour or so, the fur finally come to an agreement on the Sanctuary plans.

"Alright, I'll make sure to send some of my men up your way to start on the additions and clean-up." Delvin explains. "But for now, and to ensure things are ready when my men arrive, I'll send Xahley with you two to look over the place."

"Is that safe?" Nazir inquires. "Letting an outsider into the Sanctuary?"

"Don't worry, Xahley's harmless." Delvin explains. "And you've never met another Khajiit that can keep a secret like she can. She knows things no one else should even know and she's kept her lips shut about it. Won't even tell me, and I'm ne of her best friends down here. Your Sanctuary's location will be safe in her vault of secrets. I promise you."

"Alright." Nazir sighs. "But any shifty business and you might not see here return."

"Depends on whether Cinna allows it or not." Delvin states.

"Don't worry, Nazir." Cinna reassures the Redguard. "Xahley is only a threat to anything shiny in our Sanctuary. Just keep jewels and gold hidden away and we'll be fine."

"Then I suppose we should head home then." Nazir suggests.

"Good to hear." Xahley chirps as she stands. "Then let's head out then!"

The three make their way out of the Ratway and to the stables outside, Xahley mounting on her noble stallion, Frost, then following the two as they take off. Halfway to Dawnstar, the three stop at a bandit camp and clear it out as night began to fall.

"Alright, we'll rest here for tonight." Cinna states, cleaning off her war axe as Xahley started a small fire. "Then we'll had out tomorrow morning for Dawnstar."

"Agreed." Xahley sighs, adding wood to the small fire she had started. "It's dangerous to travel through the snowy mountains at night. With all the Frost Trolls and Ice Wraiths that prefer to wander in the cover of night."

"And frost dragons." Cinna adds. "Don't forget the frost dragons."

"Right." Xahley chuckles, opening a mead bottle from her satchel and splashing a bit on the fire, causing it to roar to life before shrinking down to a proper campfire. "Finished."

"Well, that's a waste of good mead." Cinna comments as she takes her seat on a nearby rock. "Tell you at least brought more than that."

"Xahley knows you too well, Cinna." Xahley states, pulling out a bottle of Honningbrew and tossing it to Cinna. "Nazir, do you wish to join us?"

"I suppose a drink is well earned after all this travel." Nazir chuckles, joining the two by the fire as sheathes his sword. "Toss me a wine if you have any."

"Xahley always carries a bit of every alcohol." Xahley explains, tossing a wine bottle to Nazir across the fire. "They are all effective fuels to start good fires, but even Xahley likes to dabble in her own inventory every once in a while. Especially since my heist of this certain mead I found in the remains of Helgen."

"The mead with juniper berries?" Cinna inquires as Xahley pulls out a bottle of the said mead. "I remember Ralof mentioning that on the way to our excecution."

"You never do talk much about that day." Nazir comments, taking a sip from his wine bottle. "You mention it all the time, but you never actually talk about the day."

"Well, the day is a story within itself really." Xahley explains. "The whole experience was almost like a fable, but the two of us know it was far from that."

"Then why not share the tale now?" Nazir suggests. "I'd like to know about your first encounters with a dragon in Skyrim."

"I guess it wouldn't hurt." Cinna sighs, chugging her mead before setting the empty bottle on the ground. "Toss me another one, Xahley. This'll be a long one."

The two go on to tell the tale of their encounter with the large, black dragon at Helgen. Scrambling helplessly through the inferno engulfed fort, all while trying to avoid being fried or plucked up by the large dragon multiple times as he flew overhead. They recounted the events as they followed Ralof into the fort to gather supplies, bashing through Imperial soldiers, slashing through large spiders, even having to sneak around a ferocious, hungry bear as it slept in the most inconveniant of spots. The go on to spin the tale of their trek to Riverwood, which lead them to Whiterun, which was when their journies split off into their own shorter tales.

"After leaving Whiterun, Xahley headed for Riften." The Khajiit explains as she finishes her third bottle and starts on a fourth. "I had heard of the Thieves Guild from a guard in Whiterun, and decided to investigate it myself. So I went down and soon found myself talking to the recruiter himself over a mug of ale in the Bee and Bard. He talked me into a job, I met him in the marketplace the next morning and it went off without a hitch. One thing just lead to another, and now here I am. Xahley Pickmaster as I'm known down there, can pick any lock with only a handful of lockpicks."

"Very interesting." Nazir chuckles, setting down his now empty wine bottle.

Xahley simply shrugs before turning her attention to Cinna. "Xahley is simply surprised that _you_ ended up being an assassin." Xahley states. "I always thought you would become a brute warrior like you said you would be when you left to head north. What exactly changed all that anyway?"

"Well." Cinna sighs with a chuckle, setting down her seventh empty bottle that night. "I guess the best way to put it, was a meeting that occured simply by chance, but ended up changing my fate completely. And it all begins with a little jester..."


	16. Bonus Chapter: Prison Confessions

For those of my fans who wanted to see the CinnaxNazir I wasn't able to fit into the actually story like I wanted to. Here's a story that takes place after the end of the storyline in game, but somewhat of a continuation to the ending.

!Bonus Chapter: Prison Confessions!

With Xahley handling the under construction Sanctuary along with Cicero and Babette, Cinna decided to get back to carrying out contracts and, instead of approaching the Night Mother as was per her habit, she instead approaches Nazir, requesting a contract from the Redguard she had grown so fond of in the past few weeks.

"Um, are you sure you wish to go out on a contract now?" Nazir inquires. "I mean, the Sanctuary is still under repairs, and-"

"Xahley is doing just fine looking over everything." Cinna states. "And with Babette and Cicero offering their help, I'm sure everything will be fine. I don't feel I need to stick around, and I need to start earning that coin I spent on these repairs, which I can't do just sitting around here. I need to get some contract done and start building up our treasury again."

"Well, alright." Nazir sighs in defeat, muddling through his contracts to pick one out for Cinna.

I know how eager she is to get started again, I understand completely. Nazir states in his thoughts, glancing up at the once injured shoulder of the Imperial standing beside him. But after what happened a few weeks ago and how long it took her to recover, I just don't feel right sending her out without Cicero or somebody to watch her back. But what else can I do?

He pulls out one contract, recognizing the location on it, then suddenly having an idea as he turns to the Imperial. "I think this one might interest you." He hands over the contract as he explains. "Someone wants this Dunmer mage dead, and he's hiding out in a Dwarven ruin nearby." He saw the Imperial's eyes light up at the mention of Dwarven ruin, knowing she simply couldn't turn down the contract now. "But after your close brush with death a few weeks back, I can't simply let you go alone."

"Really?" Cinna whines. "Nazir, I'm grown woman, I can take care of myself."

"A grown woman you maybe, but after what happened before, I can't trust you going into a Dwarven ruin by yourself." Nazir states, noticing the Imperial's physical displeasure. "So I'll be joining you on this contract."

"What?" Cinna gasps. "Nazir, you don't have to do that."

"Well, we both need to be out of the Sanctuary for a while." Nazir explains, looking around the currently disasterous main room. "So I'll join you this time and say I'm watching your back, this way we both get out and I don't have to hear Cicero scolding me about sending his 'dear little sister in harm's embrace'. Agreed?"

"Alright." Cinna chuckles. "Just make sure you can keep up with me."

The two make their way outside to their waiting rides, mounting the two dark horses before taking off out of Dawnstar and towards their destination: Mzinchaleft. As the two slink towards the ruin, Cinna snipes several bandits guarding the entrance, which surprisingly impresses Nazir to no ends. He never knew Cinna to be such a skilled archer given she always bragged about her knife skills while she was at the Sanctuary, but he would have never guessed her to be an archer. He was further impressed once every guard was taken out and Cinna proceeded to reclaim her arrows and reap the bodies of their valuables, noting how each shot had either landed in the neck, chest, or head, killing each instantly. Cinna was known for her quick kills, and it surely was reflected in her distant kills as well, but to do such with any bow takes a lot of time and practice, so clearly Cinna was no beginner. After looting all the bodies of any goods and any alcohol in the nearby vacinity, the two proceed into the decrepid ruins to continue searching for their target.

As they approach an area guarded by two bandits, Cinna goes for the patroling guards and easily slits his throat while Nazir quickly killed the one still seated. They proceed down a hallway, where Cinna demonstrates her skill in sneak as she quickly ad quietly creeps up behind a bandit guarding a long corridor as she walks away and quickly grabs her, stabbing her in the chest before she could make a sound. The two continue to another chamber, with two people in the room, Cinna quietly orders Nazir to slip into the room and hide in the shadows. He hesitantly follows the orders, watching from the shadows within the room as Cinna snipes the bandit on the far side of the room, his body slumping as the other bandit rises from his seat, an arrow whizing past his head from a missed shot. Worried he might spot Cinna, he quietly rolls behind him and stabs him in hte back, letting him drop as Cinna approached, her signature I-knew-it smirk plastered on pale pink lips. She proceeds to clean the two dead bandits and their chamber of any valuables before continuing on.

Nazir never thought Cinna to be a treasure hunter either, but the way she plucked gems and gold and other valuable possessions from the bodies and rooms, certainly showed that she and her Khajiit friend had worked together at one point or another. The two soon find the room containing their target, only guarded by one bandit. Cinna easily snipes her from a distance before plucking the door key from the body.

"My, this seems almost too easy." Cinna quietly comments, looking around before quietly unlocking the door. "Usually I'd run into a trap of two by now, but this has bee my easiest time in a ruin yet."

"Don't jinx us quite yet, Cinna." Nazir warns jokingly. "You never know what that mage has prepared on the other side of this door."

"He hardly know we were coming." Cinna explains. "How could he setup anything?"

Cinna carefully opens the door, and both notice the Dunmer was not in the room, and carefully proceed inside to search for him. Both are unaware as the doors close behind them, the Dunmer mage emerging from the shadows behind the door and launching two lightning bolt spells at the two. Caught off guard, the two are suseptable to the attacks and crumble as they lose consciousness from the sheer power of the attack. The two later find themselves waking in a strangely dark yet familiar cage, realizing it was one of the lockable rooms they had passed on the way in. As they recollect themselves from the vicious attack on them, their approached by Maluril.

"You two really thought you could sneak in here without letting one of my own know of your prescence?" Maluri chuckles as he looks in through the bars at the two. "For assassins, you certainly aren't aware of your surroundings, especially a small bandit scampering away to inform me of your approach. You really do need to improve on that aspect of your jobs, then maybe you wouldn't have been captured so easily."

"Well, I can certainly see why someone would want your sorry ass dead." Cinna grumbles. "And hear I thought some Dunmer were actually good. I'm sadly mistaken."

"Indeed you are." Maluri states, turning and walking away back to his room. "Enjoy you stay for the time you have. I'll be back to take care of you two in the morning."

Cinna heavily sighs as she sits against the stone wall, glancing over at Nazir as he soon joined her side. "Maybe I should've kept my mouth shut after all."

"It's not your fault, Cinna." Nazir states. "I was joking about the jinx stuff earlier."

"Not that." Cinna sadly sighs. "I shouldn't have asked for a contract so soon, I should've waited for the Sanctuary to be finished before charging back into contracts."

"No, you had the right idea earlier. Like you said, we need to start building up the gold for the Brotherhood again, and we can only do that with contracts." Nazir explains. "I was suppose to keep an eye out from anything strange, I didn't do my job right, so here we sit. So technically it's my fault we got caught."

"Don't blame yourself, it's not your fault that you had to come along." Cinna states. "You only came along with good intentions, but I put us both in danger."

"You never had us in any danger, Cinna. You don't realize just how talented of an assassin you are, despite what the elf said." Nazir explains.

"Oh really." Cinna sadly sighs, staring at her feet like a child being scolded for being caught stealing some produce from a farm.

"More than you think." Nazir continues. "Watching you as we made our way inside, I can say you surprised me quite a few times on this one contract."

"Like how?"

"Well, for starters, I never saw you as an archer." Nazir states. "You always talked about using you dagger, so I thought you'd struggle getting past the guards. But seeing you take out all those bandits outside, all within a single shot, certainly showed how wrong I was about you. And seeing you pluck valuables from bodies and rooms with such ease, not eaven questioning the worth of the objects you pick up, shows that you and Xahley have certainly spent some time together between Helgen and Whiterun."

Cinna softly chuckles, brushing back a stray red hair as she spoke. "I learned a while back that it takes more than a mace to get through a bandit camp. I plucked a bow from a bandit I killed in one of the tougher camps I found and started learning. By that time I came to the Brotherhood, I knew how to kill most people with a single arrow, no poisons required either when you train enough on moving targets."

"Then what was that poison you had Babette make for your contracts before?" Nazir asks. "If you don't use poison, what was that concation you had her concentrate?"

"It's a numbing agent." Cinna explains. "When highly concentrated, the essence of death bell can make for a potent numbing agent. Helps decrease the pain of an arrow being driven into your skull from such a distance, even more when it hits anywhere else."

"I see."

"And Xahley and I did work together a bit on the way to Whiterun, even while we were there." Cinna continues. "We both had a bit of a competition for the house in Whiterun. All together, Breezehome was about seven thousand gold to buy and decorate, so we made it a competition that the first one to earn that amount would buy Breezehome and give half of what remained to the other to set up home elsewhere. I learned all about observing value from her, but she obviously had the upper hand of prior knowledge."

"How much did you both have by the end of it?"

"I had a meager three thousand by the end of it."

"And Xahley?"

Cinna chuckles, pulling down her hood before she spoke. "She had twelve thousand gold to her name by the end of it. She gave me what remained, and then some, and wished me luck. I left for Windhelm the next day, and then all this was set into motion. You know the story, I told you and Xahley on our trip back from Riften."

"Yes, I recall." Nazir sighs. "Never thought you to be a warrior type, though you certainly have the brutal nature of one by what I've seen so far."

"Yeah, kinda funny how I go from a rough and tough warrior to the most cunning and stealthy of killers." Cinna chuckles. "But that's just how fate works really."

"I suppose so."

The two sat in silence for the longest time at that point, each retreating to their own personal thoughts for a handful of minutes, pondering over the last few months of their lives, essentially coming to the same conclusion.

"Listen, I-" The two stop, each one fluster from the united statement.

"Um, sorry. Ladies first." Nazir nervously insists.

"No, I've done enough talking for a while." Cinna uneasily chuckles. "You take this one."

"Alright." Nazir sighs heavily before continuing. "Cinna...I've been pondering this for the longest time, our interactions since you joined the Brotherhood, everything we both have been through in life, even the fact that over all the other members you could've grown close to, Cicero aside, you stuck with me and trusted me with almost everything you ever knew, thought, or did. That kind of trust is unsual among assassins, even a family of them, but in the end, it made you all the more interesting. And ever since you saved me while the Sanctuary was under attack in Falkreath, I haven't been able to really get you off my mind. I'm not sure why, but you have." Cinna sighs in relief. "But, what were you going to say? If you don't mind me asking."

"Well." Cinna chuckles. "It was right along the lines of what you just said." Nazir was surprised, even more intrigued as Cinna continued. "When I joined the Brotherhood, I didn't really think I would fit in, or really find anyone to connect to, but when I literally ran into you, I felt that there was a reasoning behind it. And the longer I stayed, the closer we seemed to slowly get, to the point where we could make jokes that no one else could understand. It was kinda funny, since I thought you be becoming more of a brother to me, considering I didn't know Cicero was so close at the time. What really changed it all was when we both found out about Cicero. Anyone else in the Brotherhood may have looked at me like I was crazy as well...but you didn't, because you knew me well enough. You even expected to come here and find Cicero alive. And despite the fact that he can annoy you to many degrees, you endure him, not for the Brotherhood or the Night Mother...but for me." She scoots closer to Nazir, laying her head on his shoulder she she continues.

"And when I saved you during the attack, I knew then that you meant more to me than anything else, maybe even Cicero. You stayed by my side through everything, even when I was plotting to destory Astrid from the ground up, you put your loyalty in me. I knew at that point, while we were almost choking in the smoke of the fires, that fate probably led me to the Brotherhood for more than one reason." Cinna nuzzles into Nazir as she continues. "I discovered my talent of killing, I discovered I was the Listener, I even found my long lost brother...but I never expected the Gods to lead me to the one thing I needed the most in my life, and even I didn't realize it at the time."

"And...what would that be?" Nazir nervously asks.

Cinna glances up at the Redguard from his shoulder, sitting up a bit so that her chin rested on his shoulder, bringing the two nose-to-nose with almost no space between their faces.

"A soulmate." Cinna whispers before quickly closing the space between the two.

Though surprised by the sudden sign of affection, Nazir slowly leans into the kiss, allowing Cinna to shift to his lap as they continued, slender arms wrapping around his neck as he locked his around the lean waist before him. The warmth in the kiss was comparable to no fire he had ever experienced, even the flames that licked at his skin as the Sanctuary burned to the ground around him a few weeks prior. Some of the deepest curiousities of the Redguard about the Imperial beauty before him were answered in a single moment: her pale lips being soft as a warm breeze brushing through the trees, tasting of sweet nectarine honey mixing with the slight bitter taste of ale and a hint of garlic mixed with snowberries. Not as he imagined it to be given their current situation, but better than he thought it would be. As the two slowly break the kiss, light green gazes into deep brown, smiles hugging the lips of both faces.

"Glad to see you agree." Cinna sighs, nuzzling into the Redguard's neck. "Now with that in the open, we might need to figure out how to handle that mage."

"I have an idea that you may find enjoyable." Nazir states.

Cinna raises her head, a mischevious gleam in her eyes. "I'm all ears."

-Two Hours Later-

"Alright, you two, time to take care of the trash." Maluri states as he approaches the enclosed area, surprised to find only Nazir sitting in the caged space. "What? Where'd the Imperial go?"

"How should I know?" Nazir huffs irritantly. "I fall asleep for two minutes then I wake up and she's not here. Snuck out and locked the door on me to save her own hide."

"Well, too bad for you." Maluri scoffs, charging a fireball in one hand as he unlocks the door with the other. "Look like you'll have to die alone then. Pity."

As the door swing open, Cinna swings down from the shadows of the ceiling, swinging the Blade of Woe with flawless motion as she flips down to her feet, smirking as the Dunmer crumples to the ground, blood spilling for the single clean slice to his throat. She smirks proudly as she sheathes the large dagger, humming pleseantly from the sudden embrace from behind.

"That was quite an enjoyable kill." Cinna comments, turning to the Redguard. "And certainly have a way of fooling even the most cunning elves."

"It's a talent." Nazir chuckles, peeking the Imperial on the forehead before the two make their way out of the ruins. "So, shall we head home now?"

"Actually." Cinna giggles, eagerly pulling Nazir along to their waiting horses. "I was thinking we could have a bit of a detour, since it will be a while until the renovations on the Sanctuary are finished."

"A detour? To where?" Nazir asks with a chuckle.

"I was thinking maybe Riften." Cinna suggests. "With a one day stay at Goldenglow Estate. Xahley has somehow come into ownership of it, and offered a room to me if I ever wished to use it for a 'special occasion'."

"Then let's not waste our time."

The two eagerly climb onto their horses and thunder of towards Riften, hoping the Temple of Mara would still be open to them when they arrived.


End file.
